Emirati Major General Nasser Ahmed Al-Raisi was seen smiling during his campaigning for the UAE Interpol bid that he placed to become the next president of the international police organization (INTERPOL). The position is currently held by Kim Jong Yang of South Korean police, who’ve had a wealth of both; national and international policing experience. Meanwhile, the current bidder for the position is a controversial name in the policing business and condemned in the infamous case of torturing British academic Matthew Hedges during his detention in the Gulf nation.
UAE Human Rights Abuse Wins
By committing the forced detention of British academic Matthew, followed by his mental and physical torture in confinement, police chief Raisi automatically became a lesser eligible candidate for the position of Interpol president. Electing the UAE police chief as the next president of Interpol would not only cause injustice to the system of justice, but also degrade the credibility of the international police organization.
Matthew Hedges, a PhD student of the Durham University was detained in Dubai when he studying there for his research work. He remained detained for a stretch of about 6 months. He was kept in a solitary confinement after his arrest in May 2018, on the mere suspicion of spying for the MI6 — UK’s foreign intelligence service. The case is in massive contrast to the UAE Interpol bid, intended to serve justice on a global scale.
When serving his time in jail, Hedges was subjected to mental as well as physical torture under the charge of the diploma holder in “Police Management” from Cambridge — Nasser Ahmed Al-Raisi. The Briton was fed cocktail drugs in the prison, pushed into signing a false confession, given combinations of highly potent drugs for his depression and panic attacks, while his calls were being monitored. In a five-minute hearing, the academic was sentenced to life in prison, despite the British government’s denial on him being an agent. Hedges was given a presidential pardon a year later when international pressure intensified against the UAE police torture.
He wasn’t the only Briton to have been detained in Dubai under false claims. Such a haunting experience has been faced by several Britons in the United Arab Emirates. David Haigh, Jamie Harron, and Ali Issa Ahmad are some of the known Briton names to have faced unlawful detention in Dubai. Ali Issa Ahmad, a football fan from Wolverhampton, UK, visited UAE in January 2019 to attend the Asian Cup match between Qatar and Iraq. The only mistake that Ali committed was of wearing a t-shirt with the Qatari flag on it — in UAE. His blatant display of support for the tiny gulf nation — under blockade at the time by an Arab quartet, including the UAE — landed him in an Emirati prison, leading to days of torture.
The UAE law enforcement has blatantly committed human rights abuses without any remorse and has had the audacity to bid for presidency at the international policing organization. The gulf nation may have not realized the severity of its offenses, however, the international community not only identified its hypocrisy, but also objected to and condemned the UAE Interpol bid following it.
The UAE human rights abuse committed by police chief Nasser Ahmed Al-Raisi constitutes to the violation of the likes of UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 and US Magnitsky Act. Despite abusing human rights of innocents serving prison time and violating the international code of conduct, the UAE police chief is running to lead a global body like the Interpol.
Meanwhile, the gulf nation’s own 69-year-old Minister of Tolerance, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, is under Interpol-partner Scotland Yard’s investigation, for sexually assaulting a curator of the literary festival, Hay Festival, in Abu Dhabi in February 2020.
With the number and magnitude of offenses committed by the nation, it wouldn’t be fair for its authority-abusing police chief to run for president of a reputable policing organization like Interpol.
Will the international community overlook all these open assaults on human rights committed by the United Arab Emirates and accept the UAE Interpol bid?
Will Interpol still be as trustworthy after being headed by a country holding one of the worst human rights record?
