Videos appearing to show a group of suited men including a Jordanian MP physically assaulting an Egyptian waiter in a Jordanian restaurant went viral on Sunday and sparked widespread anger, drawing comment from authorities in Egypt and Jordan.

Local media reports allege that the assailants who appear in widely circulated footage, which is a few seconds short of a minute, were part of the entourage of Jordanian MP Ziad El-Shawabkah. Such reports say the MP was at the restaurant in Aqaba, south Jordan, with his brothers when the incident occurred.

In the CCTV video, dated Friday 2 September, Egyptian music plays in a hall where dark suited men stand with their back to the camera. Local reports identify the central figure of the group as El-Shawabkah.

Another man, Egyptian Khaled El-Sayed, appears in a white shirt, facing the camera. He approaches the dark suited men, who seem to have summoned him, before the central figure grabs El-Sayed's shoulder with his left hand and points the finger of his right in El-Sayed's face. Their voices are not discernable but it appears he is castigating El-Sayed.

After a few seconds another dark suited man lashes out at El-Sayed, slapping him in the face. Another dark suited man on the central figure's right grabs the Egyptian to pull him closer before delivering another strike to his face. El-Sayed is reactionless, not even raising his hands to defend himself, but stepping backwards under the force of the second blow.

As a few people in chef uniforms start hesitantly to mediate and keep the assailants at bay, a third man wearing dark suit trousers and a white shirt rushes to El-Sayed and strikes him three more times.

A chef tries to separate the men before being chased away and the assailants, with the white-shirted suit keeping a grip on El-Sayed, move out of shot.

Photos surfaced later showing red wilts on the face and neck of El-Sayed and media reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying the assault continued after incidents caught on CCTV. Another video taken by a different camera appears to show El-Sayed receiving further brutality in the form of slaps and a kick once he had been knocked to the ground.

After the videos achieved wide circulation the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, Ahmed Abu-Zeid, confirmed the identity of the Egyptian and his place of work – a Lebanese restaurant in Aqaba called Lebnani Snacks.

Abu-Zeid said El-Sayed was hospitalised and the Egyptian Consul visited him there, and a police report was filed against the assailants. The statement confirmed that one of the attackers is a member of Jordanian parliament but fell short of naming him.

"The Egyptian Consulate is following up on the legal action," Abu-Zeid added in the statement published on the foreign ministry's Facebook page.

Hisham El-Nakib, an Egyptian foreign ministry aide, has contacted the Jordanian ambassador in Cairo to confirm that El-Sayed's rights will be honoured and the assailants will be held accountable, the statement continued.

Jordanian media affairs minister Mohammad Al-Moumni told Jordanian state-owned agency PETRA on Sunday that bilateral relations with Egypt are on every level remarkable, and King Abdullah is in constant contact with his "brother" Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, president of Egypt.

Al-Moumni also stressed that the monarchy respects Arab guests, and that Jordan is a lawful state with an honest judicial system.

Recounting what happened from hospital, El-Sayed said that on Thursday, on the eve of the assault, one of El-Shawabkah's brothers insulted him after not receiving his order instantly and because he did not like the Egyptian's way of addressing him, although El-Sayed insists he was polite.

The angry customer called him a "dog," according to El-Sayed. In a telephone interview El-Hayat TV on Sunday, he said the man had also thrown a slipper at him.

The next evening El-Shawabkah came to the restaurant with his brothers and told El-Sayed that as a foreigner he should be courteous and respectful of Jordanians. While this admonishing was taking place, people suddenly started striking him, El-Sayed said.

He stressed El-Shawabkah did not hit him.

Social and conventional media carried discernable public outrage on Sunday as people across the Arab world reacted to the video.

"The peak of impoliteness, contempt and lack of respect and humanity when humans treat a man like that while he's less important than they are… They were bullying him," said Sherif Barakat, TV host on Al-Hayat TV.