The Scottish Police said they will not investigate Interpol president Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, whose attendance at the organization’s general assembly in Glasgow this week coincided with a torture complaint filed by two British men.
The complaint was filed under the principle of universal jurisdiction on the eve of Interpol’s annual general meeting on Monday. Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad’s lawyers alleged al-Raisi, as inspector general of the United Arab Emirates interior ministry, “must have, at the very least, been aware of the detention and torture of two British nationals, and failed to take any steps to prevent this happening.” Al-Raisi has been inspector general since 2015, and president of Interpol since 2021.
Al-Raisi was greeted by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the opening of the conference, during which he also celebrated his birthday, posting footage on X of himself being presented a gift bag by the head of the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, Graeme Biggar.
Police Scotland confirmed that it had responded to the complaint filed by Hedges and Ahmad. “Police Scotland will not be carrying [out] an investigation,” a spokesperson told ICIJ.
Hedges was detained at Dubai airport in May 2018 after a research trip to UAE for his PhD. He was charged with espionage and sentenced to life in prison where he spent seven months before being pardoned. His lawyers say he was held in solitary confinement in a windowless room without a bed, threatened with physical violence and harm to his family, and interrogated sometimes for up to 15 hours a day, without access to a lawyer.
The second British national, Ahmad, was detained in UAE in January 2019 after attending an AFC Asian Cup soccer match. Ahmad had been wearing a Qatar soccer shirt and was unaware that this was considered a criminal offense in the UAE. After his release in February 2019, Ahmad said he had been beaten and deprived of sleep, food and water for several days.
Barrister Rodney Dixon, a King’s Counsel, who acts for Hedges and Ahmad, said in a statement his clients were “rightly disappointed by the response from Police Scotland.”
The statement noted that Scottish authorities appeared to be following a similar decision by London’s Metropolitan Police, and Dixon called on the Scottish Government to “take a greater interest” in the case.
“The lack of willingness to investigate from Police Scotland would appear to bring into doubt their real operational independence on this matter,” he said.
One of several criminal complaints filed against al-Raisi on behalf of Hedges and Ahmad was in France in early 2022, where Interpol is headquartered in the city of Lyon. A French judge opened an inquiry into the allegations but al-Raisi reportedly failed to attend the summons.
In the years since these allegations were first leveled at al-Raisi, the UAE’s foreign ministry has described all as without basis.
UAE and Interpol
Al-Raisi was elected in November 2021 to serve a four-year term as Interpol’s figurehead. The unpaid, part-time role involves presiding over meetings of the organization’s executive committee.
A report by a former director of public prosecutions in the U.K. questioned UAE’s level of influence over Interpol months before al-Raisi became president. The report also claimed the UAE abused Interpol’s red notice system “for political gain against those seen as a threat to the regime.” Red notices are requests issued by Interpol on behalf of their members to police around the world who can help find and arrest wanted criminals.
In 2011, ICIJ exposed that some countries were using Interpol red notices not just for chasing murderers and sex offenders, but as a tool against political opponents and refugees.
ICIJ found that at least 17 countries within a five-year period had used Interpol to target dissidents or political opponents, economic targets and environmental activists. These countries included Sri Lanka, China, Bahrain, Pakistan, Iran, Tunisia and Russia.
Since then, the organization has strengthened its existing measures to curb abuses by authoritarian states. A special task force is in charge of systematically reviewing all notices.
Last month, Interpol welcomed UAE’s support of Irish authorities after Dubai police arrested Sean McGovern, a key figure in the Kinahan “super” cartel who was subject to a red notice. The international organized criminal group is accused of trafficking tons of drugs and firearms around the globe. Soon after McGovern’s arrest, the Irish justice minister signed an extradition treaty with her UAE counterpart.
Speaking on the sidelines at the general assembly, an Interpol official told ICIJ the McGovern case should send a warning to other alleged criminals who may have sought refuge in Dubai.
Several ICIJ investigations have reported on UAE’s long-term track record of harboring narco-traffickers and kleptocrats.
In 2022, ICIJ revealed how the Irish Kinahan gang had found a home away from home in Dubai. Leaked records tied apartments and offices to Daniel Kinahan and Christopher Kinahan Jr. Earlier this year, the Dubai Unlocked investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and ICIJ showed that a member of the Kinahan family had bought and sold property in Dubai, even after the United States hit multiple people within the cartel with sanctions in April 2022.
Dubai Unlocked also documented Isabel dos Santos — the daughter of Angola’s former leader — and her mother’s ownership of properties in a building called Sadaf, Arabic for “seashell,” overlooking Dubai Marina. It is nearly two years since Interpol confirmed it had issued a red notice against dos Santos. Dos Santos claimed she would challenge the notice.
ICIJ’s 2020 Luanda Leaks investigation revealed how lucrative deals obtained under her father’s rule helped dos Santos become Africa’s richest woman. Since 2019, courts in Angola, Portugal and other countries have issued orders to freeze her assets. Dos Santos continues to document her lavish lifestyle in Dubai on Instagram.
The Interpol official said he didn’t expect the McGovern case to be a one off. Instead, he emphasized, the UAE was signaling its intent.
