Human rights activists are outraged today that a court in the United Arab Emirates found a member of the oil-rich country's royal family innocent of all charges stemming from his sadistic torture of an Afghan business associate in a brutal beating that was caught on tape.

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, 40, the brother of the current UAE president, was cleared of all charges by a criminal court judge in the city of Al Ain.

Human Rights Watch criticized the handling of the case in a statement that called for the UAE to establish an independent body to investigate abuse and torture by security personnel and others in positions of authority. HRW also urged the UAE to publicly and unequivocally denounce the use of torture.

"If the UAE government really wants to stop torture and to restore its sullied image, one trial will not be enough," HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director, said in the statement.

The UAE, better known for the glitzy city of Dubai, took a major PR hit when the tape was made public. The incident sparked international outrage that led to the extremely rare prosecution of a royal.

Here's the video of the 2004 beating, which was first reported by ABC News last year. (Warning: It contains extremely violent and disturbing images including the use of a cattle prod and a spiked plank against the victim.) ABC reported that the beating was filmed at Sheikh Issa's request as part of the retaliation against an Afghan grain dealer whom the sheikh accused of coming up short on a barrel of grain worth $5,000.

The following is background on the case from the AP:

The tape surfaced last year in a U.S. lawsuit by Issa's former business associate, Texas businessman Bassam Nabulsi. He is suing Issa for millions of dollars he claimed he was owed for various business deals.

The tape shows a suspect, identified as Issa, viciously beating a man said to be the Afghan worker in an empty stretch of the desert. The defense alleged Nabulsi had the torture filmed in order to blackmail Issa. The victim, identified as Afghani grain dealer Mohammed Shapoor, survived the beatings.

The defense argued that Sheik Issa was left disoriented and impaired by a combination of dozens of drugs, including medicine for heart and back conditions. The list of drugs was submitted to the court, but not made public.

Last month, a forensics expert put on the stand by the defense testified that the mixture of drugs could cause "anger, suicidal tendencies, depression, aggression and loss of memory."

Had he been found guilty on all charges, Issa faced a maximum of three years in prison.

Al-Awad, the presiding judge on a three-judge panel, gave no explanation for the ruling, other than a reference to "diminished liability" on Sheik Issa's part, apparently a reference to his impaired state.