A French lawyer, entrusted with a human rights activist imprisoned in the UAE, filed a complaint of torture once morest the new President of Interpol, Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, as the official made his first visit to the headquarters of the International Police Agency in the French city of Lyon.
William Bourdon, a lawyer for Emirati activist and blogger Ahmed Mansoor, said he had filed a complaint once morest Raissi in a Paris court under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”.
Mansour is serving a 10-year prison sentence in the UAE for “insulting the UAE’s standing” and its leaders on social media.
Separately, two British lawyers who accused Raissi of acts of torture filed a criminal complaint, on Tuesday, before the investigating judges of the judicial unit specialized in crimes once morest humanity and war crimes of the Paris court, according to the statement. Associated Press.
Al-Raisi was elected president of Interpol last November, for a four-year term. Human rights groups accused him of involvement in torture and arbitrary detention, while the UAE denied the allegations once morest him.
Raissi announced his trip to Lyon headquarters in a post on Twitter, Monday, saying: “With the beginning of a new year, I begin today my first visit to the French city of Lyon as president of Interpol. I look forward to working with members of the Executive Committee and the Secretary-General as an integrated team contributing to achieving security and safety in the whole world”.
With the beginning of a new year, I start today my first visit to the French city of Lyon as president of Interpol. I look forward to working with the members of the Executive Committee and the Secretary-General as an integrated team, contributing to achieving security and safety around the world.@INTERPOL_HQ
— Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (@GeneralAlRaisi) January 17, 2022
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock welcomed Al Raisi “on his first official visit as president”.
“Al-Raisi’s presence on French soil is in line with the principle of universal jurisdiction of French courts, and immunity cannot be invoked,” said Rodney Dixon, British lawyers Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmed.
Hedges, a doctoral student, was imprisoned in the UAE for nearly seven months in 2018 on charges of espionage, and said he was tortured and subjected to months of solitary confinement. Ahmed, a football fan, says that he was tortured by UAE security personnel during the 2019 Asian Cup soccer tournament.
The two Britons filed a torture complaint once morest Al-Raisi before the Public Prosecutor at the Paris Court last October, and Dixon said that this complaint is pending.
He added that the criminal complaint, which was submitted on Tuesday directly to the judges of the court, with Raisi on French soil, means that the French judges “should immediately open an investigation into the cases brought once morest him.”
“According to French law, opening an investigation might lead to Raisi’s arrest for questioning while he was on French soil, either now or when he returns,” Dixon said.
It was not clear how long Raissi would stay at Lyon. Interpol officials did not respond to phone calls or emails from the Associated Press asking regarding his whereregardings on Tuesday.
and in last novemberUAE Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi was elected President of Interpol for the next four years, during the organization’s 89th meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.
“Mr. Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi was elected president,” the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) said, which is the first time that an Arab figure has been headed by INTERPOL.
Al Raisi has held the position of Inspector General in the UAE Ministry of Interior since 2015, and is charged with managing the security forces in the Gulf state, and he is the UAE’s delegate to the Executive Committee of the International Criminal Police Organization.
