French justice opened an investigation at the end of March in Paris for “complicity in torture” after the complaint of two Britons targeting the Emirati president of Interpol, Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, we learned on May 11.
Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, the president of Interpol, the international criminal police organization, is the subject of a judicial investigation for complicity in torture. The judicial inquiry follows a complaint with civil action by two Britons.
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Of them British citizens visiting the UAE complaining
In a statement, Matthew Hedges, a PhD student at Durham University in England, and Ali Issa Ahmad, a security guard in central England, say they will bring ” evidence of torture “of which they accuse Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, during a hearing” at the request of the investigating judge from the specialized unit in crimes against humanity of the Paris Court of Justice.
During a press conference in Lyon in October 2021, the two complainants had testified to the arbitrary detentions and the acts of torture of which they said they had been victims in 2018 and 2019. Matthew Hedges had mentioned a study trip to prepare for his doctorate , espionage charges and detention between May and November 2018 and the fact that he was “forced to make a false confession”. Sentenced to life in November 2018, he was pardoned less than a week later, under international pressure. Ali Issa Ahmad had reported being beaten several times and even stabbed during a month-long stay in detention between January and February 2019 in the emirate of Sharjah, accused, according to him, of having endured too much ostensibly during an Asian Cup match the Qatar football team with a T-shirt on which appeared the burgundy flag of this country.
The situation of blogger Ahmed Mansour in the background
A senior Emirati police official, Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi is already the subject of a preliminary investigation by the national anti-terrorist prosecution, the Pnat for other accusations of torture filed by the NGO Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), concerning Ahmed Mansoor, one of the leading human rights defenders in the United Arab Emirates.
(with AFP)
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