‘Torture’ complaint filed in France against UAE official

Complaint by Lebanon-based NGO accuses Ahmed al-Raisi, a candidate for president of Interpol, of playing role in torture of jailed activist Ahmed Mansoor.

An NGO campaigning for human rights in the Gulf has filed a complaint in France against a top UAE official running to be president of Interpol, accusing him of being responsible for the torture of a prominent dissident, its lawyer said on Friday. The Lebanon-based Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) filed its complaint against Major General Ahmed al-Raisi, inspector general at the UAE interior ministry, at a Paris court on Monday. The complaint accuses al-Raisi, who is a member of Interpol’s executive committee, of being responsible for “torture and barbaric acts” against the prominent UAE dissident Ahmed Mansoor who it says is being held in an Abu Dhabi jail in “mediaeval conditions”.