Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Despite concerns from human rights organisations, an Emirati general accused of torture has been elected president of Interpol.
Emirati General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi was elected following three rounds of voting during which he received 68.9% of votes cast by member countries, Interpol said in a statement. Human rights organisations fear the agency will be at risk of exploitation by repressive regimes.
Complaints of torture were filed against Raisi in recent months in France and Turkey, which is hosting Interpol’s general assembly in Istanbul later this week.
The development follows generous funding by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Lyon, France-based body and accusations that Abu Dhabi has abused Interpol’s system of so-called red notices for wanted suspects to persecute political dissidents.
Raisi, head of the UAE’s security forces, will take on a largely ceremonial and voluntary role for a four-year term. It is Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock who handles day-to-day management of the organisation. Stock was given a second five-year term in 2019.
South Korean Kim Jong-yang was president since the 2018 arrest of his predecessor Meng Hongwei in China, where he had served as a vice minister of public security.
One of the complainants against Raisi, is a British national Matthew Hedges, who says he was detained and tortured between May and November 2018 in the United Arab Emirates after he was arrested on false charges of espionage during a study trip.
In another complaint, lawyers for the Gulf Centre for Human Rights accuse the general of acts of torture and barbarism committed against government critic Ahmed Mansoor. Mansoor has been detained since 2017 in a four-square-metre (43-square-foot) cell without a mattress or protection against the cold and without access to a doctor, hygiene, water and sanitary facilities, the lawyers said.
These complaints have not resulted in any formal proceedings against the general.
Anwar Gargash, a former UAE minister of state for foreign affairs who now advises the country’s president, described the general’s election as a testament to our country’s achievements and efficiency in the fields of law enforcement and security.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) have also recently lodged formal complaints against Gen Raisi in France and Turkey.
The group has accused him of involvement in what it alleges is the unlawful arrest and torture of the UAE’s most prominent human rights defender, Ahmed Mansoor, who was detained in 2017 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for “defaming” the country on social media.
