Investigation: Successive scandals of Interpol under the leadership of an Emirati official

The International Criminal Police Organization Interpol scandals grew from covering up wanted persons to handing over opponents of his country’s regime, under the leadership of the Emirati security official Ahmed Al Raisi to Interpol.

A few days ago, the Serbian authorities handed over a Bahraini dissident in cooperation with Interpol, despite issuing a judicial order from the European Court of Human Rights stipulating that the extradition should be postponed until after February 25, to provide more information to the court.

The Guardian reported that the court requested more evidence from the Serbian authorities about the case and warned that failure to comply with this means that Serbia risks violating the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lawyers for the Bahraini opposition leader, Ahmed Jaafar Muhammad Ali, confirmed that a judge in Belgrade informed the Serbian authorities and Interpol of the verdict last Sunday. Ali was deported to Bahrain early a few days ago on a chartered plane belonging to Royal Jet, a private Emirati airline headed by a ruling family member in Abu Dhabi.

Taslim Ali represents the first case of its kind since Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, a prominent Emirati security official, to head the Interpol.

Al Raisi, who oversaw the Emirati detention system by former detainees, was accused of complicity in torture amid growing concern that his election might encourage authoritarian regimes to abuse Interpol structures to detain opponents abroad.

“The fact that Interpol has initiated this extradition to Bahrain despite knowing that they have violated a direct decision of the European Court of Human Rights banning Ahmed’s return sends a devastating message that in light of the Raisi’s leadership, red lines will be crossed.”

He added, “This scandal was revealed during his (UAE official’s) tenure, and Interpol will now be complicit in any mistreatment that Ali faces.”

The European Microscope for Middle East Issues revealed that Al-Raisi had refrained from responding to a Spanish request to extradite a fugitive arms dealer residing in the UAE, which constitutes a resounding scandal for the organization.

The European Microscope, a European institution concerned with monitoring the interactions of Middle Eastern issues in Europe, said that the Spanish authorities submitted an official request to the Interpol office in Madrid, requesting the extradition of the fugitive Spanish arms dealer of Lebanese origin, Abd al-Rahman al-Assir (72 years), who resides in the UAE.

The European Microscope stated that Al-Raisi refrained from responding to the Spanish request in a resounding fall in his first test regarding the extradition of criminals and fugitives from justice residing in the Emirates and being pursued by their countries.

The European Microscope highlighted that Al-Rais pressured the Secretary-General of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, not to pass the Spanish request and ignore it.

Abdul Rahman Al-Assir is a close friend of the Honorary King of Spain, Juan Carlos. He has taken refuge in the UAE since mid-2020 to escape prosecution in corruption cases and receive financial bribes.

Meanwhile, the complaints against Raissi on charges of torture and human rights violations have decimated Interpol’s reputation.

Most of the complaints submitted in many countries, such as Britain, France, Sweden and Turkey, were rejected by the courts on lack of jurisdiction, given that Al-Raisi was not residing on European soil or even within those countries. Still, his move to the headquarters of (Interpol) in Lyon, France, to practice his new work made him Subject to prosecution again.

Tobba Bier, a professor of international law, said, “There are two possibilities for the path that the new complaints against Al-Raisi can take in Paris. The first is the opening of an investigation into them by the French judiciary, in which case he may be arrested or at least summoned for investigation.”

Pierre believes that if international law is applied correctly, away from political influences, the first course is more likely because the French judiciary “has become competent to look into the case due to Al-Raisi’s presence on its soil.

Also, invoking international immunity is not possible because Al-Raisi is still practising his work in the Emirati police.” Still, she does not rule out that political influences will lead to the closure of the complaints file, as happened previously.

For his part, the Emirati legal and legal advisor, Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi, believes that regardless of the path these complaints will take, they will “significantly affect the reputation and credibility of Interpol.”

Al-Zaabi asserts that such complaints, regardless of their outcome, put Al-Raisi in the spotlight of the world and make it impossible for him to practice any new legal violations and violations, knowing that human rights organizations and the international community are “watching him.”

Regarding the objectives of submitting these complaints, Khaled Ibrahim, head of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, one of the parties that filed complaints of torture against Al-Raisi, says that they “m

He is very keen on presenting the actual image of the UAE as a country where grave violations of human rights occur. Because of the absence of local mechanisms to achieve justice, we must achieve it using the principle of international justice.”

Ibrahim expects to influence Al-Raisi inevitably because these legal cases will pursue him and show him “as a person wanted for justice,” and highlight his role in “the practice of torture that inflicted on Ahmed Mansour and other Emiratis,” stressing that “the right will appear and punish the executioners in the Emirates and the rest of the countries of the region, even if After a while”.

Roshni Vaghela, director of the International Campaign for Freedoms in the UAE, stressed that the international campaign hopes that “the French authorities will take positive measures in response to these complaints of torture,” and that the victims, including human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor and British academic Matthew Hedges, will obtain the justice they deserve.

Vagila indicated that the international campaign once again condemns granting the position of President Interpol to Al-Raisi, in light of the “horrific human rights record of the UAE and Al-Raisi’s participation in a security apparatus that relentlessly suppresses the opposition and targets human rights defenders.”