Torture Prince Acquitted

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, 40, is a member of the royal family in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is the brother of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed. He was caught on tape torturing a man, an Afghan grain trader named Mohammed Shapoor, in 2004, in the most inhumane fashion. The graphic video below, broadcast by ABC News in April 2009, shows him:

• Stuffing the man's face with sand
• Firing a machine gun close to his body
• Hitting him with a whip and an electric cattle prod
• Cutting his bare buttocks by striking him with a nail embedded in a stick
• Pouring salt into the man's wounds and
• Driving over him again and again with his vehicle.

Not only was Sheikh Issa aware of being videotaped, he was the one that ordered the tape be made so that he could view it later at his leisure. At times he actually directs the cameraman to focus in on some of his particularly sadistic acts. The tape was sneaked out of the country by an ex-business partner, Bassam Nabulsi, who was also jailed and tortured in prison before being released. It was Bassam's brother, Ghassan Nabulsi, who was the cameraman.

Please note this video is explicitly brutal

After the tape was widely shown by the media Sheikh Issa was arrested and ordered to stand trial. He was charged at an opening hearing last October (2009) with endangering life, causing bodily harm and  rape.

In his defense the sheikh claimed that he "was under the influence of drugs [medicine] that left him unaware of his actions."

On Jan. 10 2010 Judge Mubarak al-Awad cleared the UAE President’s brother of all charges in a UAE court despite video footage of the incident, saying he was not responsible for his actions.

Sheikh Issa, who had been in custody for eight months, attended the hearing. He wore a traditional white robe and head scarf and was not handcuffed or restrained. On hearing the verdict, he hugged his defense lawyer, Habib al-Mullah, and left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

However five co-defendants, the two Nabulsi brothers and three farm workers were all found guilty. Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each, in absentia, for administering drugs to Sheikh Issa, endangering the life of Mohammed Shapoor and filming without his permission. The farm workers were sentenced to between one and three years in jail, also in absentia, for drugging the sheikh.

Habib al-Mullah, Sheikh Issa's lawyer, told the court, in the oasis city of Al Ain, that one of the sheikh’s co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa’s medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him.  He also told the court that the sheikh had been drugged against his will during the incident and had no recollection of what had happened.

“We submitted medical reports showing that the drugs that the two co-defendants administered to him left him unaware of his actions,” the lawyer said.

The defense did not just center on the medication, he said, but claimed that the videotape and other incidents from that night were all part of a conspiracy aimed at blackmailing the sheikh.

"No one can prove that this videotape has not been tampered with," al-Mullah said. The only person who can confirm the incidents happened as seen on the tape is the victim, and he has not confirmed that, he added. "We deny the incident as it was shown on that videotape."

Habib al-Mullah was taken to task in the following CNN interview.

Judge Mubarak al-Awad, presiding over a three-judge panel, further ordered the two brothers to pay an interim compensation of about $2,500 to the victim, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation.

The verdict, however, is not final as it will have to be reviewed by a higher court if the public prosecution decides to challenge the ruling.

 

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Burj Khalifa - The Tallest Building in the World

It's official, Dubai is now home to the tallest building in the world. On January 4, 2010, with much pomp and ceremony Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) was opened with an extravagant multimedia and fireworks display.

According to Wikipedia, the structure - which was started on Sept. 21,  2004 and completed Jan. 4, 2010 and stands more than a 1/2 mile high - holds a total of 15 world records including:

• Tallest structure ever built: 828 m (2,717 ft)
• Building with most floors: 160
• World's fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph)
• World's highest mosque (located on the 158th floor)
• First world's tallest structure in history to include residential space

Burj Khalifa, the centerpiece of the $20 billion Downtown Dubai project includes 37 office floors, 1,044 apartments and 160 hotel rooms designed by Giorgio Armani. Emaar, the developer, said it expects 12,000 people to live or work in the tower and connected office buildings. 90% of the building space had already been sold before completion.

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The Burj Khalifa opens in the midst of a severe financial crisis in the city-state of Dubai — one of seven small sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates. It was renamed - from Burj Dubai - in honor of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has provided $25 billion in bailout funds for the financially troubled, state-run Dubai World in the past year.

"Crises come and go. And cities move on," Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, told reporters before the inauguration. "You have to move on. Because if you stop taking decisions, you stop growing."

Burj Khalifa developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the Dubai government, but is not part of struggling Dubai World. For more on Burj Khalifa: See the website here.

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Justice or Brutality?

Sher Mohammed, from the small village of Zafarkey, outside of Lahore, Pakistan, wanted to marry his 22-year-old cousin Fazeelat Bibi. So, as is the tradition in Pakistan, along with his brother Amanat and other family members, he went to her parents to ask for her hand in marriage. The parents of Fazeelat refused.

"My eldest sister was already married into their family and she was not happy and was facing a lot of problems because of their family. My parents also thought they were bad people," explained Fazeelat.

According to Fazeelat, after being turned down Sher and his family threatened her saying they would destroy her face, presumably so that no one else would be interested in her. About one month later, that is exactly what they did.

It was about 6:30 am one morning when Fazeelat was on her way home from work at the brick kiln with her brother, Sabir Ali, and elderly father. Five people jumped them. They held her brother and father at gunpoint warning that they would be killed if they tried to interfere.

While her brother and father watched in horror, they viciously beat Fazeelat and strangled her with a rope. Not content with the beating, Sher - the man who wanted to be her husband - approached her with a knife and proceeded to cut off her nose and slashed her ear. That was when Fazeelat lost consciousness. Later she awoke in the hospital:

"When I came to my senses at the hospital, I was still crying out, begging them to stop, saying the same things I was saying at the time of the attack. All I could see was the attackers in front of my eyes." she said.

After all she had been through, Fazeelat wanted her mother. She cried for her only to be told of what had happened. When Fazeelat's mother saw how Sher had disfigured her daughter, she went into shock and collapsed. She never recovered. Fazeelat Bibi's mother was dead.

Sher and his brother Amanat, were caught and tried by a court in Lahore. They were found guilty. In addition to the 70-year sentence, and $15,500 (Rs 1,300,000) fine, the court also decided to apply the rarely used Islamic law of Qisas. Islamic laws were introduced in Pakistan during the military regime of General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s.

This particular law also known as - An eye for an eye - requires that the perpetrators suffer the same treatment they inflicted upon their victim. Accordingly, the Pakistani court has ordered that the two men, Sher and Amanat Mohammad, have their ears and noses cut off, as punishment for doing the same to Fazeelat Bibi.

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Manuel Uribe's Struggle

Manuel Uribe, 43, of Monterrey, Mexico was awarded the title “The Heaviest Man in the World” in Jan. 2006 by Guinness World Records. At that time he weighed 1,235 lbs. He has since lost over 500 lbs and now weighs about 700 lbs thanks to the Zone diet. He had been bed-ridden since 2001 and has one goal in mind – to be able to walk again.

Manuel Uribe is beyond the kind of overweight that comes from fast food and lack of exercise. Doctors call it morbid obesity. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity means weighing 20 percent or more than your ideal body weight, and it’s a health risk. Morbid obesity is altogether different. Sometimes called “clinically severe obesity,” it means you’re 100 pounds or more over ideal body weight, with a body mass index of 40 or higher.

Uribe doesn’t gain weight like the rest of us. Brain chemistry, genetic mutation, addiction, psychological pain — or an unhappy combination of all of them — makes morbid obesity one of the biggest mysteries of medicine.

An operation in 2001 – to remove 180 lbs of growth tissue from his thighs and pelvic areas – proved unsuccessful and Manuel feared that he would not be able to walk again. In addition to his weight problems, his wife of 14 years left him. He continued to over-eat and became depressed and at one point contemplated suicide.

Things began to change after he was noticed by a local journalist, Jose Luis Garcia, who interviewed him and told his story to the world. In the interview Manuel asked for someone to help him lose weight. Doctors and dietitians visited him. After much consultation Manuel decided to go on a diet, the Zone diet, rather than undergo more surgery which came with significant risks to his health.

Manuel not only started losing weight on his new diet but he also found love again. He met Claudia Solis and they both decided to get married. The following video chronicles Manuel’s transformation from depression to romance.

Manuel Gets Married

Even though Manuel is still not able to walk, he has plans to be mobile. He is now having a 1989 Chevrolet Astrovan outfitted specially for him. The minivan is being converted into an open-air, flatbed pickup. Manuel says he will put a bed on the back of the van to drive around town, with his new wife at the wheel.

With his new found lease on life, Manuel now wants to open an auto parts store. He is also making plans to visit the beach soon with his wife. He plans to continue with his diet and exercise and maybe someday he will be able to walk again. Below is a clip with Dr. Barry Sears, the creator of the Zone diet.

done

Manuel Uribe sums it up like this:

“I love life , I love God and I have someone to love, Thank God!!”

Christopher "Dudus" Coke Wanted

Christopher "Dudus" Coke, 40, a Jamaican national, is wanted by the US authorities on a number of drug and weapon offenses. See the story here.

The U.S. has officially asked the Jamaican government to hand him over to face those charges and has complained about the tardiness on the part of Jamaican government to do so. See the extradition request here.

"The U.S. government is looking forward to the Jamaican government respecting their obligations under the treaty," Patricia Attkisson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, said.

 Acknowledging the request for Christopher Dudus Coke's extradition, a Jamaican official responded:

“The Government has been notified and discussions are taking place. It is principally the prerogative of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s office”, Foreign Affairs Minister Kenneth Baugh said.

 Coke's lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, said he had not seen any paperwork and did not know why the U.S. was interested in his client. He claimed that Coke had no connections with the United States and was also not sure if his client would turn himself in voluntarily.

"We're waiting to hear what the decision is," said Tavares-Finson, who has dismissed the U.S. charges as "hype."

 According to reports, Coke is the alleged leader of the "Shower Posse" gang. He is charged in the U.S. Southern District of New York with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms. Coke faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Under the Extradition Treaty, accused persons do not have to sell illicit drugs in the United States to be convicted in that country. See a report in the Jamaican newspaper the Jamaica Gleaner concerning the U.S.- Jamaican Extradition Treaty.

Christopher Coke is not only politically well-connected to the governing party in Jamaica, the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party), he is also the recognised leader of his community of Tivoli Gardens in downtown Kingston. His influence stretches across the entire island of Jamaica and overseas to the U.S. and England. His extradition to the U.S. would likely have huge ramifications among his followers and his community.

View Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica in a larger map

Another Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer gives this perspective on Coke, as well as some background information. His aliases include Dudus, President and Shortman:

"He is the leading figure among JLP garrisons and many leaders in those communities report to him. He is tremendously powerful and is feared by friends and foes alike"

According to an article in Jamaicaviews.com, there could be social unrest if Coke was to be extradited. He has the legitimacy that the government can only envy among the urban poor. A Caribbean scholar with knowledge of the workings of inner-city communities across the region put it this way:

“For the people, legitimacy in the Government stops at Carib 5 cinema (in Cross Roads). From that point down, he (Dudus) is more legitimate than the Government. He has a monopoly of force and consensual power because he has legitimacy that the Government of Jamaica cannot even dream to have where the urban poor is concerned.”

“What does a government do when they have created a government within a government? What do they now do when they have to hand up this government to another government?” he asked. “He (Dudus) can get kids to be off the street at 8:30 pm. The Government does not even have the power to scratch anybody’s hair much more to do something like that. People feel safer in Tivoli Gardens than anywhere else. It is the safest garrison. This is touchy. In a country that barely understands order, you have found somebody to provide order in the midst of chaos because downtown is chaos. What do you do with him?”

The government in Jamaica is under pressure to respond to the U.S. request for extradition from the opposition party the PNP (People's National Party). Peter Bunting, Opposition spokesman on national security, claims that the Government's failure to extradite Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, has caused a stand-off between Washington and Kingston.

Peter Bunting, said in a press statement that the longer the Government took to honour the US request to send Coke to stand trial, the country's national interests and international reputation was being jeopardised.

"It is completely untrue," said Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne:

"The Jamaican Government has, indeed, responded through the channels laid down in the Extradition Treaty between Jamaica and the United States and there is ongoing communication between the authorities of both states," she said in a press statement.

There has also been criticism of Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding. Tivoli Gardens is his constituency and he has mostly been silent on the requested extradition of Christopher Coke. An editorial asked a question that Prime Minister Golding needs to answer clearly and unequivocally:

That question is "whether the Government's loyalties lie with those who hold that the end justifies the means or the citizens of this country who are committed to order and the rule of law".

According to Claude Robinson, a journalist with the Jamaica Observer:

All that can be expected of the prime minister is a simple and clear statement acknowledging the request and affirming that it will be dealt with in accordance with our democracy and our constitution without regard to the political affiliation of the target of the request. Once that due process is complete, the country will be told the full outcome. That's all that was expected from the prime minister. He should have delivered.

So the question remains, as it had for over two months now:

Will the Jamaican government hand over Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the U.S. authorities to answer the criminal charges against him?

See Also: Dudus Extradited? and Dudus Still Wanted  <<----

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