Sued By British Citizen Accused Of Intelligence In Court, United Arab Emirates General Elected President Of Interpol

Presiden Interpol Mayor Jenderal Ahmed Naser al-President. (Wikimedia Commons / Ipixelpro)

JAKARTA - Global police agency Interpol has selected United Arab Emirates (UAE) Inspector General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, who has been accused of overseeing torture as its new president.

General Raisi, who has served in the UAE Police since 1980 and served as Inspector General of the UAE Ministry of Interior with the rank of Major General, was elected with 68.9 percent of the vote in the Interpol general assembly held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Voting continues despite criminal cases being filed by former detainees. It was Matthew Hedges, who was detained in the UAE for seven months, who filed a claim for damages in London's High Court against Raisi and several other senior UAE officials. He accused them of assault, torture, and false imprisonment.

Hedges returned to the UK in November 2018 after he was pardoned from a life sentence for espionage. The UAE has released a video depicting him apparently claiming to be a member of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency.

"Raisi's election to the inevitable president of Interpol is a serious attack on his values," Hedges wrote in a tweet on Thursday, quoted by CNN, November 26.

"His involvement in torture and systematic harassment is legitimized through Interpol, giving other authoritarian states the green light that they can act without impunity."

Hedges said this week he and another former detainee, Ali Issa Ahmad, also filed a criminal case with Turkish prosecutors. Ahmad, 29, said he was detained in 2019 while on holiday in the UAE for wearing a Qatar-flagged T-shirt, during a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Ahmad was in the country attending the Asian Cup. He said he was electrocuted and beaten, and deprived of food, water, and sleep.

Mr Ahmed Nasser AL RAISI of the United Arab Emirates has been elected to the post of President (4-yr term). pic.twitter.com/pJVGfJ4iqi

— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) November 25, 2021

Separately, the UAE has denied allegations that Hedges was subjected to physical or psychological abuse during his detention.

The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement that "any legal complaint that could be filed with accusations against al-Raisi is baseless and will be rejected."

"He strongly believes that the harassment or ill-treatment of people by the police is disgusting and intolerable," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Raisi has pledged to build a "more transparent, diverse and firm" Interpol.

"I am delighted to have been elected President today, and it is the honor of my career to serve citizens around the world, on behalf of the UAE," Raisi said in a statement.

Citing The National News, Raisi is the first candidate from the Middle East to hold the position since Interpol was founded in the 1920s. He managed to outperform another candidate, Colonel árka Havránková of the Czech Police.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Jürgen Stock, who oversees the day-to-day operations of Interpol, welcomed the appointment of Major General Al Raisi.

"I look forward to working with him in ensuring that Interpol continues to fulfill its mandate and supports international police cooperation," Stock said.

Please note, the election has been postponed by a year due to the pandemic. In October last year, 19 human rights groups criticized Raisi's candidacy as Interpol President, saying his presidency would "damage Interpol's mission and reputation and severely affect the organization's ability to carry out its mission effectively and in good faith."