(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - For several minutes and in front of at least three prison guards, Hanni Elabed was brutally beaten by another prison inmate.
The 24-year-old banged on a guard station window, pleading for help, but no one came to his aid.
His attacker took a breather and began beating an unconscious Hanni for a second time until he got tired.
Two minutes after he stopped his brutal assault, the prison guards finally entered the cell with handcuffs, the video obtained by the Associated Press shows.
As a result of the attack, Hanni suffered bleeding inside his skull and spent three days in a coma.
According to family members, he has been left with a brain damage, and his life will never be normal again.
The footage, which was shot in January, has prompted an investigating by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as to whether the guards violated the civil rights of inmates at the Idaho Correctional Center.
The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which runs the notorious Idaho prison, said it was co-operating with federal agents in the investigation.
The CCA, the largest private prison company in the United States, has however expressed its annoyance at the release of the footage, claiming that it "poses an unnecessary security risk to our staff, the inmates entrusted to our care and ultimately to the public."
The American Civil Liberties Union has meanwhile said that the video confirms recent claims that US prisons foster a "culture of rampant violence."
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