Human Rights Watch, HRW, UAE rights groups on Thursday accused Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, Interpol elected military general from the United Arab Emirates of torture and arbitrary detention.
Interpol announced on its Twitter account that the new president was elected during the international police organisation’s general assembly in Istanbul.
In 2020, HRW and several other international human rights and civil society groups sent a letter to Interpol’s Secretary-General, Juergen Stock, expressing concern over al-Raisi’s potential election.
The HRW cited “allegations of serious abuse” under al-Raisi’s command “particularly against peaceful critics of government policies’’.
Al-Raisi has criminal complaints lodged against him in France and Turkey among others.
dpa/NAN