A bystander who filmed a man assaulting a van driver said he shared the footage online because he didn’t want the attack to slip under the radar.

A senior Emirati government official has been accused of carrying out the assault and has been referred to the courts. However, just hours after speaking to 7DAYS, the 22-year-old Indian who recorded the footage and posted it on YouTube was also arrested by police and is being questioned. Police said the official’s family had complained that the video-maker defamed their relative and filmed him without permission.

The video allegedly shows the official repeatedly hitting an Asian van driver with his agal and punching him. Eventually, a passer-by intervenes to break things up.

The van driver did not defend himself. Eyewitnesses said he had accidentally cut in and hit his attacker’s Lexus SUV. The recording was posted on YouTube on Monday and went viral, with many viewers reporting it to police, urging the force to take action.

The man who took the clip said before his arrest on Tuesday: “I didn’t plan to film it but I just felt like something was about to happen, so I switched on my camera. After I went home, I wasn’t sure if I should share it. But then I just thought to myself, ‘no one will ever know it happened. At least this way everyone would see it’.”

He added: “I felt what happened was something against humanity. It was a horrible sight. The video has not showed the full extent of the incident - the way the van driver was being boxed is only something you had to be there to see.

“He [the van driver] was crying. It was shameful to see, that too in Ramadan. I heard him say he was sorry. He offered to pay for the damage. But the man said ‘inta haywan?’ (Are you an animal?).”

The 22-year-old’s brother told 7DAYS: “CID officials came to our home on Tuesday night and took away his computer.”

General Khamis Mattar Al Muzaina, deputy director of Dubai Police, said: “They [the official’s family] are accusing him of defamation and insult. No one has the right to record any person without his permission. This man should have presented the video to police to investigate, not put it on the internet.”

The official is in custody and faces a charge of minor assault. The videomaker continues to be questioned. He has not yet had any charges laid against him.

Under UAE law, the minor assault charge could potentially earn the official one year in jail and a maximum fine of Dhs10,000 if found guilty. Recording without permission and defaming a person can result in a two-year sentence and Dhs20,000 if convicted, while abusing the privacy of a person and taking pictures or video without permission and putting it on internet can result in a six-month jail term.

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