Rights Groups Slam UAE Official’s Interpol President Candidacy
DBUBAI (Al Jazeera) – The candida3cy of a United Arab Emirates official for president of Interpol could jeopardize the credibility of the global police organization’s commitment to human rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Persian Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) have said.
Ahmed al-Raisi has been the inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry since April 2015 and is a member of Interpol’s executive committee.
"General al-Raisi’s selection as Interpol president would indicate that Interpol’s member states have no concern whatsoever about the record of the UAE in persecuting peaceful critics,” GCHR executive director Khalid Ibrahim said in a joint statement with HRW.
"His candidacy is yet another bid by the UAE to purchase international respectability and whitewash its deplorable human rights record,” he added.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said choosing a top official of an "abusive state institution as its president, Interpol risks jeopardizing its credibility as a rights-respecting international law enforcement agency”.
Al-Raisi was accused last year of being responsible for the torture of a British academic and a football fan.
Matthew Hedges, a British postgraduate student, said he was fed a cocktail of drugs during his imprisonment in Dubai on spying charges in 2018.
He spent nearly seven months in a detention center – mostly in solitary confinement – in the UAE after being arrested during a research trip on suspicion of being a spy for a British intelligence agency.
Al-Raisi is in charge of organizing and managing the security and police forces in the UAE, and "was ultimately responsible for my torture and detention”, Hedges said.
Ahmed al-Raisi has been the inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry since April 2015 and is a member of Interpol’s executive committee.
"General al-Raisi’s selection as Interpol president would indicate that Interpol’s member states have no concern whatsoever about the record of the UAE in persecuting peaceful critics,” GCHR executive director Khalid Ibrahim said in a joint statement with HRW.
"His candidacy is yet another bid by the UAE to purchase international respectability and whitewash its deplorable human rights record,” he added.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said choosing a top official of an "abusive state institution as its president, Interpol risks jeopardizing its credibility as a rights-respecting international law enforcement agency”.
Al-Raisi was accused last year of being responsible for the torture of a British academic and a football fan.
Matthew Hedges, a British postgraduate student, said he was fed a cocktail of drugs during his imprisonment in Dubai on spying charges in 2018.
He spent nearly seven months in a detention center – mostly in solitary confinement – in the UAE after being arrested during a research trip on suspicion of being a spy for a British intelligence agency.
Al-Raisi is in charge of organizing and managing the security and police forces in the UAE, and "was ultimately responsible for my torture and detention”, Hedges said.