The new paper points to large financial donations by a country where ‘torture and repression is a stock in trade’
ByJamie Johnson WASHINGTON7 April 2021 • 6:30am
Washington: Interpol is too susceptible to abuse by “despotic regimes” and its next president should not come from the United Arab Emirates because of its “systematic breaches of human rights,” according to a new report.
In a scathing assessment of the undue influence of the UAE on the international policing organisation, the paper points to large financial donations and a “misuse” of the red notice system by a country where torture and repression is “a stock in trade”.
Last year, the London Telegraph revealed that Major General Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi, the UAE security chief was running to become president of Interpol – a prestigious role which would give him insight into and influence over police forces across the world.
The report, written by former British director of public prosecutions Sir David Calvert-Smith and titled Undue influence: The UAE and Interpol, says he is unsuitable for the role.
“Major General al-Raisi sits at the top of a repressive justice system in the UAE and has been directly implicated in the torture and detention in a number of high-profile cases,” the report says.
“In all circumstances, his election would send a message to the world that Interpol has little or no respect for respect human rights and will turn a blind eye to torture and repression.”
Raisi has been accused of presiding over the torture of British citizens Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad, who were held in the UAE and claim to have been beaten up, electrocuted, denied food and water and given a cocktail of high strength drugs.
Questions have also been asked over the financial arrangements between Interpol and the Emirates, which include Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The statutory fees paid by each member country are supposed to be based on their economic weight.
But in 2017, when the UAE’s statutory contribution was €231,064 ($359,000), it made a €50 million donation to the Interpol Foundation for a Safer World – an organisation which lobbies governments and companies to support Interpol’s work.
It appears that the UAE is the only country to have contributed to the foundation.
“It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the Interpol Foundation for a Safer World’s sole purpose is to be a channel by which to funnel cash from the UAE government into Interpol,” the report says.
The presidential election was supposed to take place in 2020 at the Interpol general assembly but was postponed because of the pandemic and a new date has not been set. It was meant to be held in the UAE.
Candidates are not publicly announced beforehand and the voting is done in private – a process described in the report as “shady and undemocratic”, but the Telegraph has seen campaign material for Raisi, which has been passed round to the 196 member states.
The report concludes that “The machinery of Interpol is too susceptible to abuse by despotic regimes including the UAE and therefore, the next president of Interpol should not come from the UAE.
“It is clear that Major General al-Raisi would be the wrong choice for president of Interpol.”
In a statement, Interpol said: “Whilst it would be inappropriate to comment on a document which the General Secretariat has neither contributed towards, nor seen, it should be made very clear that Interpol’s independence and neutrality remain key, and no one country has any influence on the work of the organisation.
“The General Secretariat welcomes open and informed debate, but will address any false or misleading claims in the report once the content has been appropriately reviewed.”
The UAE’s Ministry of Interior was approached for comment but did not respond.
The London, Telegraph
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