The man at the centre of a "torture tape" scandal involving a wealthy Arab prince has spoken out about the acquittal of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan – and called the verdict an insult to justice.
American businessman Bassam Nabulsi was behind the release last year of a shocking videotape in which Issa is seen brutally beating and torturing an Afghan man who he claimed owed him money. The tape showed Issa shooting at the man, beating him with a plank with protruding nails, electrocuting him, setting him on fire, pouring salt into his bleeding wounds and eventually having him driven over with a vehicle.
The tape caused an international outcry and eventually saw Issa put on trial in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, where he is a senior member of the ruling family. But the court, in the eastern city of al-Ain, acquitted him. Instead, it convicted Nabulsi, in absentia, for his involvement in what it decided was a blackmail plot, and sentenced him to five years in prison. The verdict stunned observers and raised questions about the justice system in the United Arab Emirates.
Nabulsi, speaking from Texas, told the Observer of his shock. "I am feeling nauseous. It is really sarcastic. These people, the more they lie, the bigger the hole they are digging for themselves," he said.
The al-Ain criminal court, which Nabulsi claims never told him he was charged with anything, decided that he and his brother had secretly injected Issa with drugs, thus rendering him incapable of having responsibility for his actions. The court said the brothers had done this as part of a plot to make the torture video and blackmail the sheikh. It found several of Issa's employees, including a Syrian, an Indian and a Palestinian, guilty of helping with the torture, handing out jail terms from one to three years. But by pointing the finger of blame at the Nabulsi brothers, the court in effect concluded that Issa was a victim too.
Nabulsi, who is also involved in a court case in the US with Issa, said the verdict showed that the powerful ruling family of Abu Dhabi, one of the dominant families within the UAE, could do what they pleased, free from the idea that they would be brought to justice, even when brutal crimes were videotaped. "They act like Al Capone in Chicago in the 1920s. No one can stop them," he said.
The Abu Dhabi government, however, has denied that it played any role in the verdict of the court and said its judicial system was unbiased and independent.
The UAE's foreign minister rejected calls to review the judgment. "There's no way the UAE government is going to get involved on any court ruling," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said after the verdict. "If we start doing so, what does that tell us about any court system in any country in the world? That defeats the point of an independent judiciary."
Issa's lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, praised the fact that he had even faced a trial as evidence of a fair judicial system. "That this trial is taking place is a sign that the UAE is showing that everyone in the country can be put in front of the law and judged," he said after the verdict.
The trial and its unexpected conclusion was just the latest twist in the disturbing tale of the torture tape. Nabulsi and his brother, who are Lebanese Americans, were former business partners of Issa. At first they were friends. "In the beginning he was a pretty nice guy," Nabulsi said. However, he claimed that eventually Issa, perhaps emotionally affected by the death of his father, became a different person. Nabulsi alleged his brother was forced to make videos of torture sessions.
Nabulsi claims he asked Issa to change his behaviour. At that point, Nabulsi has claimed in a civil lawsuit, he was arrested in the UAE on drugs charges while Issa demanded he turn over all the videos. Nabulsi said he was tortured in jail and threatened with beatings and death. The experience, he said, has left him scarred mentally. "I was in constant fear for 24 hours a day … I have never really talked about it, even with my family," he said.
Finally, after the intercession of American diplomats, Nabulsi was freed and fled the UAE, taking the torture tape with him. When the tape was released, it caused a diplomatic spat between the US and the UAE and for a while threatened a bilateral nuclear energy deal. However, that deal was signed last December, after Issa was arrested, but before the verdict finding him not guilty.
Despite the verdict of the UAE court, Nabulsi says that he is determined to fight on.