France opens torture case against head of international police agency, Interpol

French authorities have opened a case against Interpol president Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi of the United Arab Emirates over accusations of torture and arbitrary detention filed by two Britons. Raisi stands accused in several other cases involving alleged torture.

This latest investigation into charges of suspected complicity in torture by the UAE official has been handed by French anti-terror prosecutors to a magistrate who will now decide whether to press charges.

The two British nationals say that they will bring "proof" of their allegations of torture when they meet investigators in Paris on Wednesday.

Matthew Hedges says he was falsely accused of spying while on a research trip to the UAR in 2018. 

The other British plaintif, Ali Issa Ahmad, claims he was beaten and stabbed while in detention in Sharjah in early 2019.

Interpol is the organisation coordinating global police activity against criminals. Its headquarters are in the south-eastern French city of Lyon. 

Separate inquiry already opened

French anti-terror prosecutors have already opened a separate inquiry into Interpol chief Raisi over allegations he took part in the torture and abuse of prisoners when he was a senior official at the UAE's Interior Ministry.

The probe follows a legal complaint by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), which accused Raisi of overseeing the torture of jailed opposition figure Ahmed Mansoor.

The complaint was lodged in January 2022 with the French anti-terror prosecutors unit, whose brief includes handling crimes against humanity.

Allegations of torture had already been levelled by human rights organisations at Raisi when he ran for president of Interpol.

He was nevertheless voted into the role in November 2021, following intense lobbying and generous funding by the UAE.

'Totally incomprehensible' 

William Bourdon, a lawyer acting for the GCHR, said it was "totally incomprehensible" that the prosecutors had not immediately ordered Raisi's arrest which, he said, "they should have done given that he is in France".

The accusations were a sufficient motive to lift Raisa's diplomatic immunity, which he enjoys thanks to an agreement between the French state and Interpol, Bourdon said.

$54 million donation for Interpol 

Raisi was elected following three rounds of voting during which he received 68.9 percent of votes cast by Interpol member countries.

The UAE donated $54 million to Interpol in 2017 – almost equivalent to the required contributions of all the organisation's 195 member countries, which amounted to $68 million in 2020.

Although his four-year role at Interpol is largely ceremonial, rights groups and former torture victims have warned his appointment would damage the international police body.