Man Accused Of Horrific Human Rights Crimes Is Expected To Lead Interpol
Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi, accused of Torture, and Horrific Human Rights Abuses is expected to be named INTERPOL President in December.
The presidency of the current President of INTERPOL Kim Jong Yang, a South Korean Police Officer will end in 2022. INTERPOL is the International Criminal Police Organisation including 194 Member countries. It is headquartered in Lyon, France. The main goal of INTERPOL is to facilitate and coordinate a secure network between polices from different countries to act against international criminality. During the next General Assembly, which will take place between November 23 to 25, 2021, in Istanbul, Turkey, members of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF) will be elected as well as the next president. This Executive Committee will take office on March 11, 2022.
Major General Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi who is accused of serious Human Rights abuses is expected to be named the next head of the organization. According to British postgraduate Ali Hamed, he was fed a cocktail of drugs during his imprisonment in Dubai on spying charges and was beaten up and electrocuted. He maintains that al-Raisi should not be the next head of INTERPOL and told reporters, "What I suffered in the UAE was very traumatising and it will scar me for life" Another victim Matthew Hedges, a Durham University PHD student, who was tortured for almost six months by being placed in solitary confinement. He was arrested at Dubai airport in May 2018 on suspicion of spying for UK intelligence. Among the claims hedges makes is that his calls were monitored, that a false confession was forced upon him, and that a combination of strong drugs was given to him to combat his panic attacks. After a brief hearing, he was sentenced to life in prison, despite British authorities publicly denying that he was an agent. Later that year, he received a pardon after "international pressure".
"The “Gulf Center for Human Rights” filed a complaint with the Judicial Court in Paris, accusing the Emirati Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi of perpetrating brutal torture against the opposition Ahmed Mansour in Emirati prisons. Mansour’s arrest in March 2017 sparked protests from major international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. With the opposition carried out two hunger strikes since his imprisonment. Ahmed Mansour has been held since March 20, 2017, in solitary confinement in Al-Sadr Prison for a period exceeding the 15-day period set by international standards, in a cell measuring four square meters, without a mattress, no protection from the cold, no access to a doctor, hygiene, water and sanitation, according to complaint. The organization stresses that the role of Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, the inspector general of the UAE Ministry of Interior and responsible for monitoring the security forces since 2015, is evidenced in the acts of torture that Ahmed Mansour was subjected to."
For all those evidences and even more, There is growing concerns and controversies over UAE’s Major General Dr Ahmed Naser Al Raisi who is expected to be the next president. This nomination is highly political as the UAE became the second contributor with €50 million donation allowed to INTERPOL foundation in 2016. On October 28, 2020, MENA Rights Group and 18 other organisations delivered a joint letter to the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Jürgen Stock, expressing concern over the potential appointement of UAE's Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi to the Presidency of Interpol.Here some of the deep concerns about AL RAISI candidacy, one of being visible collusion: "UAE Government sponsoring INTERPOL" (second contributor after the US). A total "Lack of Transparency over the Election process" where the result is known even before the election occurs."The UAE poor Human rights records including systematic use of torture and ill treatment in security facilities." "Mr Al Raisi is reporting directly to the deputy prime minister and the minister of interior". Making INTERPOL virtually useless to pursue the UAE for their numerous crimes regularly committed: "Lawyers, journalists, political activists and human rights defenders in the UAE have been subjected to harsh reprisals, intimidation tactics, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention as a result of peacefully expressing their opinions, including on trumped-up “terrorism” charges". "Mr Al Raisi is part of a security apparatus that continues to systematically target peaceful critics, rendering civic space virtually non-existent in the country".Hubert Julien-Laferrière, French Representative exposed this candidate as the "shameful candidacy". He has mobilised 34 other representatives to write a common letter to Emmanuel Macron. The French President did not bring any official answer yet. Laferrière added: "France's arms sales to the United Arab Emirates certainly explain a large part of the silence from the French authorities." "There are very convincing and extremely documented allegations" against the general, said lately on Franceinfo, William Bourdon, lawyer of Ahmed Mansoor, Emirati activist, and of the Gulf Center For Human Rights.
After the scandal over the disappearance of the Chinese INTERPOL last president, Meng Hongwei, arrested in China for corruption charges in 2018, allowing the UAE to manipulate INTERPOL by avoiding being asked any questions about their crimes committed with total impunity will definitely ruin its already fragile credibility. One question remains: How an alleged criminal accused of human rights abuses and torture backed by one of the worst country in terms of Human Rights could lead a so called anti-Criminal worldwide organisation?
