Rights groups slam UAE official’s Interpol president candidacy

UAE interior ministry official Ahmed al-Raisi has been accused of the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners.

The candidacy of a United Arab Emirates official for president of Interpol could jeopardise the credibility of the global police organisation’s commitment to human rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) have said. Ahmed al-Raisi has been the inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry since April 2015 and is a member of Interpol’s executive committee. “General al-Raisi’s selection as Interpol president would indicate that Interpol’s member states have no concern whatsoever about the record of the UAE in persecuting peaceful critics,” GCHR executive director Khalid Ibrahim said in a joint statement with HRW on Wednesday.