Emaar sued for torture and false imprisonment

"Dubai based Emaar Properties best known for building the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, has been sued in California for torture and false imprisonment by American businessman Lionel Lombard. United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Case 2:10-at-00928 LOMBARD v. EMAAR USA et al.

Lombard a former partner in a Dubai public relations firm complained about Apartheid and treatment of foreign workers at one of Emaar’s flagship properties, The Springs. Lombard, an American citizen, was repeatedly harassed by Emaar’s security guards because of his stance. After he took his case directly to Emaar’s chairman, Mohammed Ali Alabbar, Lombard was imprisoned for almost two years, beaten and tortured in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

All charges against Lombard were dropped in February 2010 without explanation. Non citizens are often imprisoned in Dubai at the whim of officials or due to business disputes. Despite attempts by Dubai to portray itself as a progressive business and tourist destination, the reality is that hundreds of non citizens are jailed each year due to minor civil disputes. Emaar and Alabbar became incensed at Lombard after local media picked up his story."

More here: Builder of World’s Tallest Building Accused of Torture & Racism (Peace FM Online)

(link via secretdubai on twitter)

And there are more torture videos...

Here as we can see there are more torture videos for Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed emerging from his plantiffs.

The wealthy Gulf prince at the center of a “torture tape” scandal has been accused of attacking at least 25 other people in incidents that have reportedly also been caught on film.
Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-­Nahyan, half-brother of the man who owns Manchester City football club, is now under investigation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the shocking tape showed him beating a man with a nailed plank, setting him on fire, attacking him with a cattle prod and running him over.But now lawyers for US businessman Bassam Nabulsi, who smuggled the tape out of the UAE, have written to the justice minister of Abu Dhabi — the most powerful of the emirates that make up the UAE — claiming to have at least two hours of footage showing Issa attacking other victims. “I have more than two hours of video footage showing Sheikh Issa’s involvement in the torture of more than 25 people,” wrote Texas-based lawyer Anthony Buzbee in a letter.The news of more torture videos involving Sheikh Issa is another huge blow to the international image of the UAE. The oil-rich state has been keen to develop relations with the West and to promote an aura of moderation and tolerance. But the shocking video of Sheikh Issa torturing Afghan grain merchant Mohammed Shah Poor, whom Issa said had cheated him in a business deal, has heavily dented the UAE’s reputation. Particularly damaging was the apparent involvement of a policeman in the torture.

Until scum like Issa the torturer (I will not mention Zayeds name in his last name from now on, Issa not being worthy of such a father) are prosecuted, then this country will never be able to call itself a fair country. What exactly allowed him to run amok and go around torturing 25 different people like this ?

Any Emirati who does not fully condemn such a barbarous act is very seriously misguided, this is an act which is performed by a sick depraved individual who brings enormous shame to himself, his country and gives ammunition to those critics who will use this event for years to come to attempt to label the UAE as "just another arab dictatorship".

It is time that Issa the torturer is prosecuted, and with him the so-called "policemen" who are likewise scum for assisting in the torture of a helpless man.

I hope that Nabulsi releases every single video, and I want to see Issa the torturer behind bars.

Kuwaiti bloggers tortured by Kuwaiti secret police

Two Kuwaiti bloggers, Jassim Al Qames and Bashar Al-Sayegh, were arrested by Kuwait's secret police after someone posted a negative comment about Kuwait's Emir on their website.

Even though they deleted it immediately, they were still arrested:

Bashar was detained because of a comment written about the Amir of Kuwait, Shaikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, on his website's forum by an annonymous person, it was deleted by Bashar because of its inappropriateness but he was 15 minutes late deleting it, the police held him accountable even after it was deleted. As for Jassim he was released but beaten severely and blind folded and forced to use his fingerprint as signature to a document he couldn't read because of the blindfolds.

This is disgusting behaviour by the Kuwait authorities and brings disgrace on all of Kuwait.