A court in Abu Dhabi has acquitted the man accused of beating an Afghan grain trader in 2004.

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a member of the UAE royal family, claimed he was drugged by two other men, and therefore unaware of his actions, which included torturing the man with electric prods, driving over him and raping him.

Thee men who released the tape have been given five years in jail.

In a statement released to the New York Times, Tony Buzbee, an attorney for the Nabulsis, said:

The verdict is a farce, and shows why the world should have no confidence in the [United Arab Emirates'] justice system. This was a show trial, held completely in secret, with one objective: to relieve international pressure on the ruling family so that the pending military treaty with the U.S. would go forward. The fact is, and the evidence is clear, Sheikh Issa tortured numerous people and he ordered the torture to be videotaped. The sheikh’s abhorrent behavior also was not isolated. I offered the U.A.E. authorities additional videotape indicating that at least 20 other people were tortured by the sheikh. [...] The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, continues to coddle the U.A.E. and look past serious human rights and security concerns there.

The Times added:

The United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is a part, made an agreement with the United States, during the final week of the Bush administration last January, to [import] nuclear fuel for use in an energy program. The United States formally signed the agreement with the U.A.E. in December.

As my colleague Robert Worth explained last April, the agreement means that the U.S. will “share expertise, technology and fuel in exchange for a promise by the Emirates to abide by international safeguards and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.”