Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

In April 2009 Issa bin Zayed was subject to a controversy in which a video tape of torture smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates to the United States by two Palestinian brothers, who were his business associates, showed Issa mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods, and wooden planks with protruding nails and running him over repeatedly with an SUV. Issa bin Zayed was initially put under arrest with the UAE government stating that matters were resolved "privately". One of the Palestinian brothers, Nabulsi, claimed Issa bin Zayed breached his contract and subjected him to torture, emotional distress, and malicious prosecution and demanded $80 million in repatriation. Emirati court found Issa not guilty on the principle of diminished responsibility and instead condemned and sentenced the two brothers for using the video as blackmail and extortion. The court was accused, by international human rights observers, of having failed to deliver justice.

Nabulsi said that he safeguarded Issa's most important documents, including financial records, investment documents and videotapes, which showed Issa torturing a man with a cattle prod and a spiked plank. Nabulsi, who had "smuggled" the tape out of the UAE, was also suing Issa, saying he was tortured by UAE police, after he refused to hand over videos to Issa after a disagreement. Nabulsi also said his brother recorded the tapes as demanded by Issa, who, Nabulsi says, liked to watch them later. The lawsuit was dismissed on 12 June 2009 by district judge Sim Lake for "lack of personal jurisdiction and proper service of process."

In April 2009, an abridged version of the tape was posted by ABC News. In the video, taken at some time in 2005, Issa is shown beating another man, an Afghan grain merchant called Mohammed Shah Poor, with a wooden plank with protruding nails, firing an automatic weapon into the sand around him and forcing a cattle prod into his anus before turning it on. Prior to the abuse, the video allegedly shows a man in Abu Dhabi police uniform (but without his equipment belt) tying the victim's arms and legs; at a later point, Issa urges the cameraman to move in closer with the words, "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show." The victim also appeared to have been run over by a Mercedes SUV, had lighter fluid poured on his genitals and set alight, and had salt poured on his wounds. At the end of the video, two other police officers can be seen posing alongside a fully marked ministry departmental vehicle. It is not known if the vehicle registration on the departmental vehicle and the SUV were ever cross-checked to authenticate the involvement of the Sheikh and the government.

Abu Dhabi reported on 29 April 2009 it would probe these allegations. Without acknowledging Issa by name, the statement said "the events depicted on the video appear to represent a violation of human rights".

On 14 December 2009 Issa appeared in court and declared he was innocent. The trial ended on 10 January 2010, when Issa was cleared of the torture and rape of Mohammed Shah Poor. Though according to his lawyer, the court accepted that Issa had been a victim of a conspiracy, the judge in fact did not give a reason, as to why Issa was exonerated of responsibility for the abuse. The brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi were both sentenced in absentia to five years for "drugging, recording and publishing a video and blackmail".

Issa is the subject of an assault, libel, and slander lawsuit brought on by businessman Bassam Nabulsi of Houston, Texas, a former long-term adviser to the Al Nahyan family, filed on 16 August 2006 in District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division for Assault, Libel, and Slander.

The incident occurred in 2004. It appeared the initial tape could be the beginning of the problem and it was reported on Sunday 3 May that the lawyer for Nabulsi, Issa's former partner, claimed to have "more than two hours of video footage showing Issa's involvement in the torture of more than 25 people." According to the newspaper, police are believed to be seen participating in the attacks and some of the victims are thought to be Sudanese immigrants.