Torture tape revealed

ABC News: The video shows someone "mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails." Later he "pours salt on the man's wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV."

ABC has the video here.

"The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared.

There are many reasons you might video yourself torturing someone else. One would be to view them later for pleasure. Another would be to show to others that you mean business.

I wonder what "not part of a pattern of behavior" means. Not part of his pattern, or not part of the government's pattern?

Addendum. [added April 25]

The Guardian

US congressman James McGovern has already called for a freeze on government aid to the UAE. ...

The victim, an Afghan grain merchant called Mohammed Shah Poor, apparently survived the experience, because the government later justified taking no action against the sheikh by saying the matter had been settled privately between the two men and each had agreed not to press charges against the other.
...
McGovern urged [Hillary] Clinton and all relevant US officials to watch the tape in its entirety.

AP

With Capitol Hill soon to review a deal to send American nuclear power technology to the U.A.E., the oil-rich nation has enlisted a pair of heavyweight lobbying firms to convince lawmakers the agreement won't be a boost to neighboring Iran's pursuit of atomic weapons.

Since July, the U.A.E. has paid nearly $1.6 million in fees to Akin Gump and DLA Piper, according to foreign agent registration records on file with the Justice Department.

Both sides of the political aisle are covered. On the U.A.E.'s lobbying team are Vic Fazio, a former 10-term California Democratic congressman now at Akin Gump, and DLA Piper's Dick Armey, the former Republican House majority leader from Texas, the records show.
...
On Thursday, State Department spokesman Robert Wood declined to say whether disclosure of the Sheik Issa videotape might undermine the agreement on Capitol Hill. "I'm not going to get into a characterization of what Congress should or should not do," he said. Wood said the administration still plans to submit the agreement, but he did not give a date.

The U.A.E., a federation of seven separate states, wants nuclear power by 2017 to meet its growing demand for electricity. Although the emirates are flush with oil, they must import 60 percent of the natural gas they use to generate electricity.

This affair is inconsistent with the U.A.E.'s record. This is not merely a private matter, and U.A.E.'s record has been blemished. The straightforward way for the U.A.E. to deal with the problem is to prosecute Issa. It is important to keep in mind that Mohammed Shah Poor may have settled because it was unlikely Issa would be prosecuted.