Interpol elects Emirati general accused of torture as president

Ahmed Naser Al Raisi, the Emirati general elected in Istanbul today as the new Interpol president, faces allegations of torture in four European countries and in Turkey, accusations that the Government of the Emirates describes as a “distortion campaign”.

“There are criminal complaints filed in Turkey, France, Sweden and Norway, as well as two civil proceedings in the United Kingdom,” Nikita Bernardi, who coordinates the complaint campaign against Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad, two British men who say they were tortured while in detention in the Emirates.

Al Raisi was elected in the third round with 68.9% of the votes, as announced on its website by Interpol, the body that coordinates police work in 195 countries.

The Emirati defeated the Czech Sárka Havránková, whose campaign stressed the importance of the “spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” for police work.

Recognition of his personal history, says Emirati advisor

The election of Al Raisi “is a testament to the achievements and efficiency” of the Emirates “and a recognition of the honorable personal record” of the candidate, said an Emirati presidential adviser, Anwar Gargash, on Twitter, rejecting the “distortion campaign” launched. .

But the general’s critics believe that from his position as inspector general of the Emirates Ministry of the Interior, which he has held since 2015, he has done nothing to prevent practices of torture and persecution of dissidents.

50 million euros

According to a report published in April by former British magistrate David Calvert-Smith, Al Raisi’s election has to do with the money the Emirates has injected into the Interpol Foundation for a Safer World, a non-profit organization whose stated objective it is getting governments and companies to help Interpol.

In 2017, the Gulf country announced a donation of 50 million euros to that foundation, a third of Interpol’s annual budget, which is financed 40% by quotas from member countries, with the rest coming from donations, especially from the European Commission, Canada, the United States and Norway.

This report also denounces the growing tendency of several authoritarian regimes to use the “red notification (or alert)” system, created to detain internationally wanted criminals, to make life difficult for exiled dissidents.

“A shame”

“It is a disgrace. It is a sad day for international justice and the global police. I do not know how the members of Interpol who have voted in favor of Al Raisi are not ashamed,” Hedges said to questions from Efe, after confirming the general’s election.

“I am afraid of what that means for people like me, who have suffered abuse at the hands of the Emirates and have been forced to make false statements under torture,” added this academic, imprisoned in 2018 for seven months, convicted of espionage and finally amnestied.

Complaint in Turkey

Ridney Dixon, the British lawyer handling the Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad case, recalled in a statement that being the head of Interpol does not give Al Raisi “immunity from a criminal investigation.”

The most recent complaint was accepted last Tuesday by the Turkish Prosecutor’s Office, which “accepted the case and sent it to the Ministry of Justice,” Bernardi explained to Efe.

The Ministry must give the go-ahead to open a judicial investigation under article 13 of the penal code that allows the prosecution of crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

Pending approval is the case of Emirati blogger Ahmed Mansur, imprisoned since 2017 in Abu Dhabi and sentenced to 10 years for “insulting the prestige of the Emirates.”

The Turkish Justice faces this decision just when Ankara and the Emirates have just reconciled after years on opposing sides in various conflicts, and when a fund from the Arab country has promised to invest 10,000 million in a Turkey with economic problems. (I)