Nominee for Interpol chief faces accusations of torture

United Arab Emirates' Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, who is keen to become next president of Interpol has been accused of overseeing torture. The allegations may prove an obstacle to his aspirations to head the global police agency.

These allegations of detention and physical abuse have come from Academic Matthew Hedges and a football fan Ali Issa Ahmad. Hedges was imprisoned in UAE for seven months while Ahmad was detained for wearing a Qatar football jersey while on holiday in UAE. Ahmad was quoted in news reports as saying that he still bears physical marks of the torture he underwent.

“He has a supervisory role over prisons, including those who have committed acts of torture, such as guards and interrogators. This all happened on his watch. Interpol can’t countenance this. They can’t say this is good enough – they must call it out,” said Rodney Dixon QC, who is representing Hedges and Ahmad. Dixon was quoted by The Guardian.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Interpol is a supranational organisation that was formed with an aim to aid co-ordination between police systems of various countries. To its member states, Interpol provides investigational support as well as help sharing information on suspects.

Al-Raisi faces several lawsuits in UK, Sweden, Norway and France. Gulf Centre for Human Rights has filed a lawsuit in France where Interpol is headquartered.