U.A.E. Royal's Torture Video Could Cancel U.S. Nuclear Agreement

A recording of a member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family torturing an Afghan could ruin a nuclear agreement worth several billions of dollars between the Gulf monarchy and the United States.

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, one of the president and crown prince’s 22 brothers, appears to enjoy using several methods of torture. The video, which lasts 45 minutes, shows him using a whip meant for cows, as well as several instruments meant for tearing out fingernails and causing burns, all just to “punish” the Afghan. Finally, the royal family member uses his Mercedes automobile to repeatedly run over the tortured man, a mere seeds seller from Afghanistan who the royal claims “betrayed” him, according to The Times. All of this was done in the presence of a policeman.

The whole video was shot by one of the sheik’s employees and made public by one of his former business associates. However, the tape got to U.S. President Barack Obama. Now, Obama is hesitant on signing a commercial agreement, which was drawn up on Jan. 15 between the U.A.E. and the George W. Bush administration. The contract, worth several billions of dollars, ensures both technology and nuclear equipment to help the U.A.E. develop its nuclear presence. In exchange, the U.A.E. must respect the treaty’s terms of nuclear non-proliferation and return the enriched uranium instead of using it for military purposes.

The video comes at a delicate time for the U.S., where Obama has already denounced torture used by the CIA over those suspected of terrorism during the Bush administration. The scenes in the video are “one of the most horrific things I have ever seen in my life,” said Democratic U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, co-president of the congressional human rights committee.

To put even more pressure on the White House, McGovern sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing his “horror, repulsion and irritation” toward the U.A.E.’s practices. McGovern went as far as to demand that all sales and technology transfers to this state, including nuclear, be ceased.

“If the U.A.E. thinks this is going to blow over, they are wrong,” McGovern firmly stated. He added that strict measures have to be taken against any other state that doesn’t respect human rights, no matter if they are important U.S. allies.