ABC News obtained a videotape (apparently smuggled out of UAE) allegedly showing a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.
Link...extreme graphic footage Warning
Statement/Explanation by the UAE Government? Below the fold
In a statement to ABC News, 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 incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared.
The Minister of the Interior is also one of Sheikh Issa's brother.
The government statement said its review found "all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department."
As Josh Marshall pointed out over at Talkingpointsmemo the UAE ministry's statement can be summed up as:
Yes, the sheik did it, but it was merely a one time thing, so no need to be alarmed -- and our policeman followed all the rules, the first of which is do whatever the the sheik says.