Global police agency Interpol has elected Emirati Inspector General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi as its president, despite accusations from rights groups that he failed to act on allegations of torture of detainees in the United Arab Emirates.
Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said in May that his department had not investigated credible allegations of torture by security forces, adding that Raisi’s election would put Interpol’s commitment to human rights in doubt.
Although the presidency is a part-time role and does not oversee day-to-day operations of the agency, the president is a high profile figure who chairs meetings of Interpol’s assembly and executive committee.
A spokesperson for the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said Raisi “strongly believes that the abuse or mistreatment of people by police is abhorrent and intolerable”.
Responding to questions about Raisi’s candidacy and Interpol’s election process, Secretary General Jurgen Stock said Interpol did not intervene in politics adding that they do not have the mandate to start any investigation on national issues. \
Human Rights Watch has said hundreds of activists, academics and lawyers are serving lengthy sentences in UAE jails, often following unfair trials on vague and broad charges but the UAE has dismissed those accusations as false and unsubstantiated.
Two men said this week they had filed a criminal case with Turkish prosecutors against Raisi, while he was in Istanbul for the election at the Interpol general assembly.
Turkish authorities have not said whether they will pursue the two men’s complaints.
However the UAE ministry spokesperson said that any legal complaint filed with allegations against “Raisi is without merit and will be rejected”.
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