UAE Torture Video Sheikh Detained

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

UAE Torture Video Sheikh Detained
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BARBARA SURK | May 11, 2009 01:16 PM EST |

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Emirates detained a member of the country's ruling family as prosecutors launched an investigation into allegations the sheik tortured another man, the country's official news agency reported Monday.

If the case of Sheik Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan goes to trial, it would be the first time in the oil-rich Gulf federation of seven semi-independent sheikdoms that a member of the ruling family faced criminal charges in a court of law.

Torture allegations against Issa first surfaced a year ago when his former business associate, Texas businessman Bassam Nabulsi, filed a lawsuit in the United States suing the sheik for millions of dollars he claimed he was owed for various business deals.

Nabulsi submitted video tapes, which the sheik had allegedly entrusted to him along with financial records and investment documents, to a U.S. federal court in Houston, saying the footage depicts torture committed by Issa.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/uae-torture-video-sheikh_n_201619.html

[pleah]

1. K&R

[MasonJar]

2. Ruling families by virtue of oil on their lands. Just read the Pulitzer

Prize winning "Looming Towers" for a good look at these princes. Before early 20th century, these royals were nomads wandering the sands with no money. Oil gave them their alleged royalty. They are not princely in most ways, just rich.