BERLILN (MEMO) – A number of German MPs have rejected the UAE’s candidate to head international police body Interpol, Arabi21 has reported.
The London-based news website disclosed that the German MPs signed a petition expressing their “deep concern” regarding the nomination of the UAE’s Major General Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi for the post of Interpol director.
According to the website, the signatories urged that choosing al-Raisi: “Would put the reputation of the international organization in danger.”
Therefore, the MPs called on Interpol members to “frankly stand up against al-Raisi’s nomination,” as well as calling for a “transparent measure for the nomination of Interpol director taking into consideration human rights.”
The German MPs consider that the nomination of the UAE’s official to the position of Interpol director “is a flagrant violation of the second article of the basic law of Interpol,” which respects the “spirit” of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On 25 November, Interpol’s member states will choose a new director. There are only two candidates: al-Raisi and Interpol Vice President for Europe Šárka Havránková.
Days earlier, a lawyer submitted a criminal complaint in Turkey against al-Raisi ahead of Interpol’s General Assembly.
The UAE nominated al-Raisi as president of the global policing body, in what lawyer Gulden Sonmez says is an effort “to launder the UAE’s reputation and cover up its human rights violations due to its systematic accusation of crimes against humanity.”
Sonmez says al-Raisi “is accused of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual assault, committed under his responsibility and sometimes with his own participation,” adding that his arrest has been sought upon his arrival to Turkey to attend Interpol’s 89th General Assembly between 20-25 November.
“There are concerns,” the lawyer explained, that the Emirati official “will turn Interpol, the International Police Organization, of which 194 states are members, into an organization of criminals.”
It was not the first complaint that could block al-Raisi from heading Interpol, as a group of 35 members of French Parliament wrote to President Emmanuel Macron asking him to oppose al-Raisi’s nomination.