Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:10, 26 April 2009

Revision as of 10:15, 26 April 2009

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In a statement to ABC News<ref>[http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7402099&page=1 ABC News revealed movie of torture by Sheikh Issa bin Zayed]</ref>, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed; the Minister of the Interior is also a sibling of Sheikh Issa. "The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared. The government statement said its review found "all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department."<ref name="observer_torture" />

Responding to the government statement, Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch stated "If this is their complete reply, then sadly it's a scam and it's a sham. [...] It is the state that is torturing them, if the government does not investigate and prosecute these officers, and those commanding those officers." In response to the video's emergence, US [[congressman]] [[James McGovern]] called for a freeze on government aid to the UAE, and requested that Issa be refused US visas[[visa]]s; in a [[letter]] to the [[secretary of state]] of the [[United States]], [[Hillary Clinton]], he said: "I cannot describe the horror and revulsion I felt when witnessing what is on this video ... I could not watch it without constantly flinching."<ref name="observer_torture" /> Nabulsi has also alleged that he brought the existence of the torture tape, along with the involvement and collusion of UAE police, to the attention of a US official assigned to train UAE police, with little effect.<ref name="observer_torture" /> McGovern has also called for an investigation into these allegations, in order to discover when US officials knew about the tape, if they took any action and, in the event that they didn't, why not. "It shocks the conscience," he said.<ref name="observer_torture" />

==References==