Arab Emirates and the United States , senior U.S. officials familiar with the case have said . The senior U.S. officials said the administration has held off on the ratification process because it believes sensitivities over the story can hurt its passage . On Saturday , Human Rights Watch called the sheikh 's reported detention `` a significant development '' but said the UAE government needs to do more to restore confidence in its judicial system . `` The videotape of this episode shocked the world , '' said Sarah Leah Whitson , Middle East director at Human Rights Watch . `` The report of the arrest was reassuring , but now the government needs to make the details public . Secretive prosecutions will not deter further abuses and torture . '' On the tape , Sheikh Issa appears to burn with rage . Apparently believing he was cheated in a business deal , the sheikh was trying to extract a confession from the Afghan grain dealer . With a private security officer assisting , Sheikh Issa is seen stuffing sand in the Afghan 's mouth . As the grain dealer pleads and whimpers , he is beaten with a
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi who was captured on videotape torturing an Afghan grain dealer has reportedly been detained , a senior U.S. State Department official told CNN Saturday . Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan , pictured here , allegedly tortured a business associate on videotape . The official said the government of the United Arab Emirates , which includes Abu Dhabi as one of its seven emirates , told the State Department that Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan is under house arrest pending an investigation , but that the United States has not independently confirmed the development . The videotape emerged last month in a federal civil lawsuit filed in Houston , Texas , by Bassam Nabulsi , a U.S. citizen , against the sheikh . Former business partners , the men had a falling out , in part over the tape . In a statement to CNN , the sheikh 's U.S. attorney said Nabulsi is using the videotape to influence the court over a business dispute . The tape of the heinous torture session is delaying the ratification of a civil nuclear deal between the United