2023-11-30 16:56:26
Vienna. The Interpol General Assembly, which will be attended by International Police Organization Interpol President Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, was expected to be held on Tuesday. Lawyers of two British people who were imprisoned and tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) filed a criminal complaint against Interpol Chief Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office before the Interpol General Assembly held in Vienna. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the complaint was currently being examined.
Speaking to journalists in Vienna on Monday, two victims, Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad, described the violence they were subjected to in custody as follows: Al-Raisi was a senior police official in the United Arab Emirates at the time. Al-Raisi was working as an inspector general in the UAE before being named Interpol chief in 2021, when two Britons were arrested and convicted in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Matthew Hedges was in the United Arab Emirates doing research for his PhD when he was arrested in 2018 on charges of spying for the UK. During seven months of solitary confinement, he was given drug cocktails and threatened with murky imprisonment in another country, Yemen. “I heard the pained screams of the mistreated prisoners next door in Vienna,” he said. After a seven-month trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released after great international pressure. Hedges, who came to Vienna and was accompanied by his wife, who was closely interested in the issue, is of the opinion that “Al-Raisi was definitely involved” in his high position at that time. “As head of Interpol, he is damaging the reputation of this international institution,” Hedges said. In September 2023, Great Britain issued an official apology for failing to recognize signs of torture during a prison visit in the Hedges case.
Ali Issa Ahmad, on the other hand, came to the UAE in 2019 as a fan of a football tournament. His t-shirt featured the flag of the Gulf country Qatar. Apparently this was enough for Qatar to be arrested, which at the time brought it into disgrace among its neighbors. While in custody, he was electrocuted, beaten and shot. Ahmed said he barely had any food or drink. He was initially denied contact with the British embassy. He eventually had to sign a confession that he had committed the crime. Ahmed was also released after international intervention.
“These titles will lose their independence.”
Matthew Hedges was imprisoned, tortured and convicted on spying charges during a visit to the UAE.
He argues the Telegraph & Spectator should not be sold to a UAE-backed investment fund: pic.twitter.com/v34wb4lvXJ
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 24, 2023
Interpol is said to have approved the transfer to Bahrain
The complaint was filed in Austria because Al-Raisi was here for the conference, and under universal jurisdiction, action can be taken against suspected defendants in crimes against humanity, regardless of citizenship and the scene of the crime. Lawyer Rodney Dickson said of the two human rights cases: „Even afterwards, nothing was done to hold accountable those responsible in the Emirates.“
The case currently filed in Vienna also refers to the case of Bahraini dissident Ahmed Jafar Mohammed Ali, who applied for asylum in Serbia in 2021. He was arrested there in January 2022 and illegally flown to Bahrain on a UAE plane. According to the lawyer, a member of the UAE ruling family was behind this action. The opposition is currently detained in Bahrain. Lawyer Dickson quoted the Gulf country citizen he represented as saying: “The pain I have suffered since I was sentenced to life imprisonment in Bahrain is unimaginable.”
The case of illegally abducting dissidents from Serbia and transporting them to Bahrain was the first of its kind since Al Raisi took over as head of Interpol. Both Serbia and Bahrain said the operation was carried out with the approval of Interpol. The European Court of Human Rights disagreed. In Vienna, Lawyer Dickson criticized the election of Al-Raisi as Interpol president and complained that nothing is being done against torture these days.
Fifth case filed against Al-Raisi
The Al-Raisi case, opened in Austria on Monday against two British people who came to Vienna with their lawyers, was the fifth such case. According to universal law, cases were previously filed in Türkiye and France. As lawyer Dickson explained, Sweden and Norway were sued. In case of torture, the immunity factor does not come into play for a high-ranking official like Al-Raisi.
International law expert Ralph Janik from Sigmund Freud University explained the legal context and options in the Austrian case as follows: “The principle of universal jurisdiction can be applied during the international conference in Vienna. The decision belongs to Austria. It is important that international pressure is applied. When it comes to torture, it’s about protecting people. “Immunity should also not be an end in itself.”
The Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that it had received the “statement of facts”. A spokesman said it was currently reviewing “whether jurisdiction exists”. Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock did not want to comment on the allegations before the general assembly meeting to be held in Vienna, citing the ongoing trials. (yenivatan.at)
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