“We clearly condemn the actions, and have made our Abu Dhabi counterparts aware of our concerns.” It’s not unlike telling your sugar daddy you don’t much like his behavior and expecting anything to change.

This was a despicable act. I hope NYU takes more stringent action than merely making “our Abu Dhabi counterparts aware of our concerns.” My immediate reaction is to call for a moratorium on NYU Abu Dhabi until some credible commitment to human rights is made by the UAE government. Knowing that will not happen is tough to swallow. We must advocate for justice.

The NYU admin can’t be surprised by this. Presumably this is fairly common.

While this is clearly a despicable act, the assertion that we should put a moratorium on NYUAD is an overreaction. This is not an instance of our funding abhorrent behavior. On contrary, the government of Abu Dhabi is giving large amounts of money to NYU. To boycott NYUAD out of protest would be akin to the Medical School not accepting federal research money out of protest of the Bush torture and national security policies.

Well, how dare that man attempt to cheat a prince out of 5,000 rubles of grain.

This is a huge issue. I hope NYU takes a legitimate stand against this. It’s just fucking embarrassing.

J-Sex doesn’t care about this kind of thing as long as you have money to give him (for his salary that’s grown incredibly out of step with inflation and job performance!…. wait, I mean, for his students, who he loves!). People have known ever since the University started talking about NYU Abu Dhabi that there were major ethical issues involved in partnering with an oligarchy that has a lousy human rights record. J-Sex didn’t care then and he doesn’t care now. I’m kind of sick to my stomach and more sure than ever that even if Bill Gates wills me his entire fortune someday I wouldn’t give a fucking penny of it back to NYU. Go Bobcats!

I hope Mohammed gave his brother a stern talking-to.

A great day for the Style Issue, eh?

This won’t fit anywhere on the WSN’s front page. Ahahah.

I just ate way too much ice cream cake to be able to watch the video, but man. That’s terrible.

This article is unclear about whether Sheikh Issa is actually involved in funding NYU Abu Dhabi, or if he is just the brother of other leaders who are involved. Do we know who, of the brothers, are the chief funders or what the estimated dollar amount of their backing is?

Can we please focus on the fact that there are people being tortured and not on how this somehow makes NYU look bad? Issa needs to be murdered, John Sexton has nothing to do with it.

Thank you justin.

@ Justin
What I was calling attention to is that this article vaguely insinuates a relationship between NYU and Issa, and that these implications are the reason its posted on NYU Local. Plenty of heinous crimes in national news get totally overlooked by this site, not because they don’t deserve attention, but because they aren’t relevant in the same way. I’m hoping that soon the link between NYU and Issa, if there actually is one, gets clarified.

@Jake Fournier

NYU Abu Dhabi is being completely funded by the Crown Prince of the UAE and his government. His family wealth, as well as those funds attributed to the national government, serves as the financial resource for every course, professor, program, and administrator. NYU is not footing any kind of bill.

While we do not know the total cost of NYUAD, we do know that the nation’s government is fully behind NYU’s success there, and they have put a great amount of wealth into the belief that the campus will succeed.

It is already well known that Abu Dhabi has a less than stellar human rights record. This country is a thugocracy devoid of free expression, and the majority of the residents are essentially indentured servants who are exploited and abused by the over-privileged coterie of shiftless citizens. But NYU is an amoral institution more concerned with attracting cash so it can spend its way up various rankings, regardless of the cost to students, faculty, or the city. President Sexton is like some nouveau-riche gladhander, obsessed with gaining “prestige” and “status” at whatever cost. In his calculus, leeching off of torturers and autocrats is perfectly acceptable. Meanwhile, the rulers of these Gulf states think the same way, and they would rather just buy Western cultural “brands” rather than investing in any educational, cultural or research institutions of their own that might benefit the region as a whole.

damn i’d hate to get on disciplinary probation at NYU Abu Dhabi

@Andrew

I don’t understand your critique of Sexton and NYU’s presence in the UAE. You say “NYU is an amoral institution more concerned with attracting cash …” More concerned with what? You never specify. Is it personal enrichment? John Sexton is a highly accomplished person who could probably be doing something else with more prestige and making much more money than he does today. We lambast bankers for making exorbitant salaries while contributing little to society. Sexton makes a fraction of their salaries and is building a university from scratch in a foreign nation. Of course his motives are not entirely altruistic, I’m sure personal glory has a little to do with it. But, were he a “nouveau-riche gladhander” he would probably not be an academic.

And you make it sound as if development is not an admirable goal for Gulf states. Would you rather the UAE fund religious schools or madrasahs? I would think that a Western university would be a great addition to a developing Gulf state, especially one about which we have human rights concerns. After all, instituting our way through force didn’t quite work out.

I’d like to see TBNYU! go and protest at that campus.

[...] new campus, engaging with Damon Beres’ great opinion piece and today’s release of the Sheikh torture video. [...]

Yes, Issa’s actions are appalling. But how, precisely, does the existence of a satellite campus in Abu Dhabi condone these actions? As I understand it, and as Lucas pointed out above, it’s not as though we’re paying the royal family anything to establish a school; they’re footing the entire bill. And if a liberal western-style university is allowed to take hold, its very existence will do more to foster liberalization in the UAE than any alleged punitive actions an organization like NYU has the capability to enforce.

Christopher Johnson recommends “calling for a moratorium on NYU Abu Dhabi until some credible commitment to human rights is made by the UAE government,” but I have trouble believing that that will accomplish anything. I can’t imagine an all-expenses-paid satellite campus is an especially tough sell to any university, especially in today’s economy.

Sheik Issa bin Zayad al Nahyan, brother of the Crown prince, is clearly a saddist. The official respose to the saddism ….a real jaw dropper. It illuminates for me just how little these emerites have grown as a people, in the 21st century. Hopefully, John Sexton will at least be embarrassed by this association

[...] New York University Student Senators Council had this to say in a statement concerning the torture video in which Sheikh Issa of the U.A.E. is seen torturing a grain [...]

Isn’t cultural relativism fun?

But don’t worry, NYU Darfur is being entirely funded by Omar Bashir

….so its cool.

Well we already have China & Singapore and London (a country which engages in torture just like the U.S. for “national security” reasons) and we’ll have Tel Aviv soon, so Abu Dhabi really won’t be out of place. In fact it’s probably mild compared to our biggest and largest friend in the East. : )

This incident happened about 2 – 3 months ago, the person who was filiming was also the person who ended up trying to BLACKMAIL the abu dhabi government with threats of bringing this to the press..however everybody already knew about it in the gulf so they werent going to succumb to it. Sheikh Issa was punished and DID go to jail for a period of time however the law in abu dhabi and the UAE is that you cannot report bad press about the royal family. America really needs to start getting its facts straight and going to the sources before it starts making assumptions.

I think this is not write ruining UAE reputation, what about when Americans where in Iraq they did worse things to innocent men. Now the case of Sheik Issa is shocking to you “I don’t think so” this happened long time ago it was 2005 Mr. B. Nabulsi stole so much money from Sh. Issa. The sheik trust him with his wealth and maid him a business partners, so many people wish to get so close with our Sheiks and when they do, they became greedy and will do anything to keep their connection with the Sheiks Mr. Nabulsi thought with this tape he will keep his trust with the sheik, so if anything goes wrong he will threaten him. He forgot with whom he is dealing with.
Sh. Issa is a good man and he helped so many people in the world and the UAE. Sometimes we do things with out thinking and some time people that are around you bush you to do things you don’t think about.

Mr. Nabulsi mad the tape when he would not get any replays he start asking for ransom money, do you think he cares about what happened to the man in the Video “NO” this is only for his own self . All of you know the story from one side. Please stop humiliating our Sheiks they are good people with good sole you all know that.

Muna Al Shaibani

“Sh. Issa is a good man ”

No sweetheart, he’s not. And I’ve spent enough of the last 20 years living in Abu Dhabi to know exactly what kind of person he is. Good people do not do what he did, only animals do that.

And animals that do that are put down.

Look Mr. Andrew if you think we are bad people from the UAE what made you stay 20 years in the UAE? You are one of those who wish others bad things, hope one day you would get out of it. No one should be put down…that’s not a solution. I am sure you have spend a great time in the UAE and you wished to be close to any of our Sheiks thanks it did not happen sorry.

Muna Al Shaibani

[...] week, a video released by ABC News showed Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the UAE Crown Prince, [...]

I hope you are all doing very well.

This comment it to Muna:

Sister Muna, please don’t justify torture by bringing excuses.
I know people living in UAE. It’s a great country with many nationalities and religions being practised freely. Don’t ruin that, by defending a wrong act.
The tape has nothing to do with Nabulsi but is about an Afgan grain dealer whom the Sheikh accuses of teating.

He recieved that kind of a punishment and it doesn’t matter if it was in year 2005 or what the reason for the torture was. What happened happened.

A real muslim should and is obliged to condemn this behaviour. If we claim to follow our beloved Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him and his household) in moral and behaviour, then this is excactly what we should comdemn. If we aren’t allowed to verbely abuse another human being in Islam, then how in the world can you say a person is a good person when you wittness this stuff?
It is never allowed to treat a person like that no matter race or religion. And by reading your comments you are being unjust to the victim.
This saying is from Imam Ali:

“A person is either your brother in faith, or your equal in humanity”

The Quran holds justice as an absolute value without any qualifications:

(Believers! Be maintainers of justice-bearers of witness for Allahs sake, though it may be against your own selves or your parents or near relatives, be it rich or poor …)(vi:135). (Let not hatred of a people incite you to act unjustly; act justly, that is nearer to piety.)(v:2)

I can’t believe I actually have to literally convince you to condemn torture!

All of us condemns something in our own country. Either we don’t approve of some law’s, or the failure of governments to tackle problems etc. You can’t close your eyes when seeing such stuff just because it is in your country and you try to defend it.

You wrote:
Please stop humiliating our Sheiks they are good people with good sole you all know that.

(The best among you in the sight of GOD is the most righteous.) Verse from the Quran.
It is obvious that the Sheikh isn’t righteous nor God-fearing.

And since when do you know each and every person by heart? How can you refere to the sheikh by saying he’s a good person when seeing this?
How can you sleep at night with this opinion?

Why not be just as the Quran instructs us to be and being a good rolemodel for Islam and letting people know that just because it happened in an Islamic country, it doesn’t represent Islam. Just like the case with soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghreib doesn’t represent Christianity.

Being a muslim I will end this comment, by apoligizing on behalf of everyone who defends this tourture tape to those who believe that this is how Islam is. I hope that everybody will pay attention to the fact that Islam condemns and stands in stark contrast to this behaviour.

May Allah guide us all to the Right Path, his path of peace, prosperity and love.
Amen.

1) I do enjoy my time in the UAE and Abu Dhabi to be precise, however what has that got to do with the behaviour of someone who is very clearly dangerous and believes he’s entitled to act as he pleases. You’ll find no sympathy or apologies for his behaviour from me. If Sheikhs Khalifa and Mohammed have any sense they’ll crucify him and chuck him in prison.

Exactly how does me expecting someone to treat another human being with respect mean I’m a bad person?

2) I couldn’t give a toss about sheikhs as I work around a few of them already. As it is so I can’t say it impresses me much anymore.

Seriously darling, knock it off, if there’s anything that’s unsavoury about a lot of Emiratis is their sense of entitlement, or belief that everyone else thinks the same as they do. I’m here to enjoy my life in decent weather, earn some money and then go home – not suck up to sheikhs which is clearly something you seem to plan on doing.

3) It’s on the video, you can either watch it and accept it, or pretend the video is – woooo! black magic!

This comment it to Huda Al Hassan
Sister Huda, in the holy QURAN it says who steal his hands should be cut off and one should not do that. In Saudi they would have chopped his hands, he is lucky, that was not the case. I know, what I see in this Video is not ok, but Mr. Nabulsi should not show this act in public, if the man in the video would lounge his case with Nabulsi it would be some case one could look in to it. But Mr. Nabulsi is doing it for his own benefits he is making money out of all this wile some man is being tortured.
The Video was stolen from the sheikh, so stealing is wrong blackmailing is wrong in Islam. When he could not get his way he lounged this tape for millions of Dollars. That’s not correct in Islam.
It’s also not correct to blame the Sheikh when Mr. Nabulsi is the one enjoying taping the video. If he had a heart Mr. Nabulsi would have not done this.
Mr. Nabulsi is the one who told the sheikh, let’s recorder your act so next time no one from your workers will steal from you, as you know Mr. Nabulsi was a business partner of the Sheik. One more things Mr. Nabulsi stole a big amount of money from the Sheikh keep that in mind millions. On top of that he is the one who told on the man that’s been tortured in the video. Mr. Nabulsi had a plane but his plan did not go well.

I think all this is wrong one should not do this. But ALLAH al mighty knows what happened that night; in this case, he is the one who will punish each one in his own way.

We all do mistakes in our life and I wish this for no one. I know Sheikh Issa is a good man; all I can do is wishing him good luck.

This command is to Andrew.
I am very happy, you enjoying being in the UAE, because you know it’s a great place to be as long you respect our roles.
I did not say you are a bad person, all I say was one should not wish anyone badness.
I am sure they all respect you because you respect them and boy you are having a lot of fun, to be around them too.
So please stop insulting the Sheikhs again. If you are not happy please leave and go back home where you feel safe.

Here are really people who defend this monster!!! I just can not believe that. And chopping off the hands of someone who steals is also totally barbarian. Maybe Nabulsi is also criminal, but what does that change about the horror of a man lighting another man’s testicles, sticking an electroshocking device in his anus, and driving over him with a car? May Issa go to hell forever, and everyone who tries to defend that which can never be defended or relativized also.

TO: Muna Al Shaibani, I was more discussed by your sickening defense of
You Sheikh than the video of him sadistically torturing a man, do you really believe
That a man capable of doing what you Sheikh is doing can have a good soul ?
Denying, covering up and approving such an inhuman act shows the real face of your Sheikh and his entire royal family, also your feeing toward others, if someone torture your father, brother or rape your sister and I call that person a man with good soul, how this make will make you feel ? The person seen in the video is a very sick man, his acts needs to be punished and his mind treated, the same for you, defending such a sick act by your sick sheikh shows your sick society, Muna, having tall building or 6 figure GDP income dose not make a society civilized, you know and I know that this was not a random act, this is an ongoing patron in your society, records of thousand and thousand south Asian workers used and abused everyday can’t be denied, be honest with yourself

I can’t believe what I’m reading. Why are you bringing up the stealing related punishment? What on earth is going on in your mind?
You keep bringing up what Nabulsi did wrong, like that justifies the tortur by a UAE Sheikh. I don’t care what Nabulsi will benefit from this. I’m sure he’ll benefit alot, and I don’t give a damn because it has nothing to do with this case. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
The sheikh is a torture and mentally ill.

I’m sick of you trying to defend one of your sheikhs, when he’s clearly sick and crazy.
And why the hell, do you keep begging Andrew to leave UAE, just because he critisizes a wrong act?
You have a problem girl. You either have to face it or get help. Because if a person sees torture which contains such graphic scenes like this and still is not moved by it and defends it, then something is wrong, and you clearly need help.

You wish Sheikh Issa good luck. Well I believe you need counselling and good luck with that. May Allah giude you. Your comment stands in stark contrast with Islam, like I said earlier. I don’t know how you can live with that.

I wish not to read any of your senseless comments again, because you’re getting on my nerves!

muna shaibani’s defense of the Sheik is even more disturbing than the actual video. Do you understand what I am saying Muna? Your attitude is more grotesque than a person who lights another person’s genitals on fire.

I am utterly shocked and horrified to watch such a gruesome video and I have never seen such a brutality and barbarianism. Oh my god! I won’t be able to sleep at night. Is this how these UAE and their Sheikhs treat other human beings? Is there no court or justice system to deal with a person who may have stolen something worth $5000? What will be the punishment for a person who cheat the sheikh for $100,000? Oh No, god damn it. I will try not to have even a transit flight in this highly dangerous country.

The UAE has issued an official comment saying that the actions on the video are not a pattern of behavior. That is completely false. This sick animal of a person / Sheik tortured 25 other people also recorded on video. Furthermore the family has a history of doing this sort of disgusting behavior all over the world, not just it their own horrible country. Just look up “sheikh assault switzerland” to read about it happening elsewhere. Of course these are just the known / recorded cases. These sick people need to be incarcerated as they are clearly beyond psychological rehabilitation due to their upbringing and their “society.” The defense of this by muna al shaibani is just an example of how barbaric the country truly is.

[...] of the United Arab Emirates, has been detained and placed under house arrest. Last month, video was released that showed Sheikh Issa torturing a grain [...]

This comment is for Greg,

What do you know about me to say something like that Mr. Greg all you know is to humiliate others then tray to understand?
My comments…that show what kind of Hume rights you stand for.

Muna Al Shaibani

To: muna shaibani

What do I know about you? I know that you defended a man who set another man’s testicles on fire, stabbed him repeatedly in the buttocks with a nail, inserted a cattle prod into his anus, and had the entire assault filmed for his own sick pleasure. After seeing this video you called this perpetrator a “good man.” What more than that does anyone need to know about you?

I saw this video and i had nightmares for 3 nights. Torture happens eveywhere but if you are tortured in a democratic country, its more towards humiliation and harassment. and you can fight for justice. These middle eastern countries actually believe in brutal torture. i mean…. i dread to think that poor afghan mans pain and his internal injuries. The worst part is that the government doesnt think he did anything wrong and feels that he is justified in his actions. SHOCKING.

Muna u need some psychiatric counselling

Oh my god! this grazy sheikh should be locked up for the rest of his life! how anyone can defend this monster??????? and this muna person deffinately needs a shrink and medication too!

Mary Smith….well said!