This Is How the UAE Seeks to Polish Its Record of Human Rights Violations and Settle Its Accounts With Its Opponents

Since the British Telegraph newspaper revealed about a year ago to this day, wide criticism from human rights organizations continues to escalate over the UAE's nomination of Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi to head the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), amid accusations of being responsible for human rights violations and torture of detainees.

In addition to filing several lawsuits against the Emirati official nominated for the presidency of Interpol on charges of committing crimes against humanity before the courts in Turkey recently, and in Britain and France at an earlier time.

This also comes amid accusations by the German Parliament that the UAE is abusing international search requests to arrest its political opponents abroad in order to settle its accounts with them.

In light of the Gulf State's doubts regarding the human rights file, observers believe that the UAE is seriously trying to buy a strong place at the head of the Interpol, which is based in Lyon, France, by pushing one of the men close to the regime to head the internationally important organization.

 

Emirati Torture Machine

Turkish lawyer Gulden Sonmez announced that she had filed a lawsuit before the Turkish courts on November 08, 2021 against Emirati Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, the candidate for the presidency of Interpol accused of torture and human rights violations, according to TRT website.

“The nomination of al-Raisi for the presidency of Interpol is an attempt to wash the reputation of the UAE, and cover up its human rights violations due to its systematic accusation of crimes against humanity,” Sonmez believes.

“The Interpol presidential elections are scheduled to take place during the 89th session of the Interpol General Assembly from November 23 to 25, 2021 in Istanbul,” according to a statement issued by the Turkish lawyer.

“Sonmez has submitted a criminal complaint to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office to issue a warrant for al-Raisi, known as the crime and torture machine, he is accused of committing crimes under his direction, his responsibility, and sometimes with his personal participation, such as enforced and arbitrary disappearance, arrest, torture, and sexual assault,” according to the statement.

In the statement, the lawyer accused the UAE authorities of "​​influencing Interpol by providing financial support and imposing its authority, while statements were made by human rights defenders and lawyers for victims around the world, they expected that the authorities of member states will prevent the nomination of al-Raisi for the presidency of the international organization.”

It is noteworthy that Major General al-Raisi has held the position of high-ranking inspector general in the UAE Ministry of Interior since April 2015, and one of his duties was to investigate complaints against abuses committed by police and security forces, but al-Raisi and his administration ignored all complaints throughout that period, which makes him accused of complicity and supervision of human rights violations that were practiced by the security services.

In turn, the former Emirati judicial advisor, Mohammed bin Saqr al-Zaabi, said in a statement to Al-Estiklal: “For the UAE, and those who follow its activities find that its access to international organizations is not in the public interest and to achieve criminal justice, rather, it is to infiltrate these organizations and institutions and achieve their personal interests in combating peoples’ aspirations for justice, freedom and democracy.”

“Everyone watched the UAE spying on opponents, politicians, and human rights defenders through the Pegasus program, and its attempt to tarnish the image of everyone who reveals its subversive plans in the region. Therefore, we will not rule out the nomination of one of its officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to head the Interpol to have a noble purpose, and it will certainly use it to the worst use,” the Emirati opponents activist added.

Regarding the lawsuit against al-Raisi in Turkey, al-Zaabi said: “We hope that this step will succeed in stopping the UAE's internal and external crimes, and if the plaintiff has real evidence of the violations and torture in which the UAE candidate for Interpol participated, there must be legal action against him, and justice must take its path.

“But taking into account that the UAE keeps secret what is going on inside its prisons, and all torture sites are secret, this makes it difficult to obtain strong evidence and to be satisfied with the testimonies of those who have been released from these prisons, and most of them are,” al-Zaabi added.

 

Pursuit of Opponents

In the same regard, a number of members of the German parliament (Bundestag) expressed, in a joint statement, their deep concern over reports that Emirati Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi had been nominated to head Interpol, noting that his election might jeopardize the reputation of the international organization.

“Al-Raisi, as the representative of Abu Dhabi, is part of a security apparatus that takes systematic measures against peaceful opponents,” the statement indicated.

“The Major General occupies a position at the head of a repressive regime, in which opponents, journalists, and human rights defenders face severe reprisals. This is something that has been documented by various United Nations bodies and international human rights organizations,” the statement emphasized.

“The UAE is accused of abusing international search requests to arrest political opponents abroad, and Abu Dhabi uses so-called red notices to pursue critics of the regime, this would undermine the credibility of the organization,” the statement added.

A report written by the former Director of Public Prosecutions in the United Kingdom, Sir David Calvert Smith, documented the significant financial contributions of the UAE to Interpol since 2017.

The report also revealed evidence that the UAE sought to influence Interpol through funding - the second largest financial contributor to Interpol - and other mechanisms, it was also concluded that the UAE is seeking to consolidate its influence by seeking to secure the election of Major General al-Raisi as president.

“He found strong evidence that the UAE misused the red notice system for petty crimes for political gain against those seen as threatening the country’s ruling regime,” Smith also said at the time.

Interpol's secret methods were widely criticized by human rights organizations, which confirmed that the Red Notices system - the international wanted list - gives dictators an opportunity to abuse it and prosecute opponents residing abroad.

Although the international organization has banned the issuance of Red Notices based on political motives, in practice, only a few are withdrawn each year, while those who are exposed to Red Notices do not have the opportunity to appeal the decision in any international or national court.

 

Bad Human Rights Record

The British Telegraph newspaper revealed last year that the nomination of al-Raisi to head the Interpol, who also holds the position of its delegate in the executive committee of the organization. After that, human rights and international reactions followed, with denunciations and warnings against electing a person facing accusations of torture.

In October 2020, a complaint was submitted against al-Raisi to the French Public Prosecution regarding his responsibility for torturing two British men (Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmed) while they were detained in the UAE between 2018 and 2019, the complaint came after a similar move failed in Britain, according to Forbes magazine.

In turn, 19 international human rights organizations objected, through a letter they sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the end of the same month, to the nomination of an Emirati official to lead the Interpol.

The organizations pointed to the UAE's bad human rights record, and considered that this severely affected the organization's ability to carry out its tasks.

On its part, Human Rights Watch warned on May 5, 2021 against the nomination of al-Raisi, this came in the words of Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East at the organization.

On June 11, 2021, the non-governmental organization Gulf Center for Human Rights filed a complaint in France against al-Raisi on charges of torturing the Emirati opponent Ahmed Mansour, who has been detained since 2017, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criticizing the authority and defaming his country's image on social media.

Commenting on this, Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, said: “The nomination of Major General al-Raisi as head of the Interpol would show that member states of the organization have absolutely no concern about the UAE’s record of persecuting peaceful critics, his candidacy is another attempt by the UAE to buy international respect and polish its bad human rights record.”

On June 16, 2021, a group of 35 members of the French parliament wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron asking him to oppose the nomination of al-Raisi for the presidency of the Interpol.

On its part, in October 2021, 11 human rights organizations, including the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, called on the British lobbying company, Project Associates, to terminate their relations with the Abu Dhabi authorities, and not participating in promoting the nomination of al-Raisi for the presidency of the Interpol.

At the same time, the newspaper Daily Mail revealed a secret campaign of 4 former prominent British politicians to support the nomination of al-Raisi for the presidency of the Interpol, they are: Sir Michael Fallon, Alistair Burt, former Representative Sir Richard Ottoway and former Labour Cabinet minister Baroness Ashton.

It is noteworthy that, since 2011, the UAE has faced criticism over the imprisonment of hundreds of human rights defenders and peaceful politicians, for their demand for political reform that would open the way for democratic elections.

However, the Abu Dhabi authorities have always denied committing human rights abuses and claiming their commitment to human rights.