Torture video case tests UAE justice

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The footage begins with an assault rifle allegedly being fired by a member of the United Arab Emirates’ ruling family, bullets throwing up clouds of sand as they smash into the desert, just inches from the cowering body of an Afghan grain trader.

The scene then moves on to the Afghan being beaten with a cattle prod and plank of wood and concludes with a 4x4 vehicle being driven over his battered body.

The video lasts just minutes and was recorded more than three years ago. But for the UAE, an oil-rich nation desperate to hold itself up as a model international business hub, it has thrown up a critical test.