Shocking: UAE general accused of torture elected as Interpol president

UAE Interior Ministry official , Ahmed Al-Raisi, accused of overseeing torture, has been elected as Interpol's president, the international police organisation said on Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, inspector general at the United Arab Emirates interior ministry, was already a member of Interpol’s executive committee.

Al-Raisi has been linked to the torture of high-profile political prisoners at home, including Ahmed Mansoor, an Emirati dissident, and Michael Hedges, a British academic that was accused of spying in 2018 and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

Criminal complaints have been filed against him in five countries, including in France, where Interpol has its headquarters, and in Turkey where the election took place.

ICFUAE has earlier expressed fear that he might use Interpol’s global reach to apprehend exiled dissidents and even political opponents at home and abroad.