Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, who rose to the presidency of Interpol in November under criticism from NGOs, is now the target of an investigation in Paris for “torture” and “barbarism” after a complaint from an NGO denouncing the treatment of one of the main Emirati opponents, imprisoned since 2017.
It was the anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat) which opened this preliminary investigation, AFP learned from sources familiar with the matter, confirmed by a judicial source.
This last source specified that this investigation followed a complaint lodged in January by the NGO Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), which accuses Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi to be, through his duties as Inspector General at the Ministry of the Interior of the United Arab Emirates since 2015, one of the persons responsible for the torture targeting the opponent Ahmed Mansoor.
The judicial source did not indicate on what date the investigation of the Pnat, competent in matters of crimes against humanity, was opened. According to two sources familiar with the matter, she was entrusted to the gendarmes of the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH).
Me William Bourdon, lawyer for the GCHR, told AFP that ” as soon as a preliminary investigation was opened, and it was necessary because of the presence of the defendant in France “as part of his duties at Interpol, “ it is totally incomprehensible that the Pnat did not have Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi arrested when he had the opportunity to do so “.
“ If immunity were to be invoked by General Ai-Raisi, it can only be invoked by the respondent, and certainly not by the Pnat, which must not replace him. “, he warned. According to the lawyer’s analysis, Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi would be one of the current perpetrators of this torture, which would be grounds for an exception to the diplomatic immunity he enjoys under the 2008 agreement governing relations between France and Interpol, the organization whose headquarters it hosts.
(With AFP)