Cairo - An international human rights group on Tuesday accused a member of the United Arab Emirates' royal family of brutally torturing an Afghan man and called for his prosecution. The New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Sheikh Issa bin-Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the Emirati royal family, of beating, electrocuting, and driving over an Afghan grain dealer.

A videotape aired on the US news channel ABC last week showed al-Nayhan and policemen beating Mohammed Shah Poor with whips and wooden planks with protruding nails last fall, pouring salt on his wounds, then running him over with a car in the desert, the rights group said.

"We have not issued any statements concerning this matter," a spokesman for the Emirati Interior Ministry told the German Press Agency.