OREANDA-NEWS. The Inspector General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Major General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, has been elected the new President of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). Al-Raisi was elected head of the organization for a four-year term, replacing Kim Jong Yang of South Korea in this position. Interpol announced his election on Thursday, November 25, in it's Twitter microblog.

Critics of Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi call him a supporter of aggressive law enforcement agencies that subject opponents of the authorities to arbitrary arrests and torture. Lawsuits have been filed against him in at least five countries in connection with allegations of torture. According to the British edition of The Daily Mail, Al-Raisi is involved in the torture of British scientist Matthew Hedges, who was detained in the UAE in 2018 on false charges of espionage. In custody, he was kept in shackles, deprived of sleep and forced to take various medications. Later, the scientist filed a lawsuit against four UAE officials, including Al-Raisi, for damages in the amount of 350 thousand pounds.

The headquarters of Interpol is located in Lyon, France, the organization exists on the contributions of 195 member states. The UAE authorities not only pay contributions (in 2019 – about 243 thousand euros, which amounted to 0.425% of the Interpol budget), but since 2015 they have been actively donating large amounts of money to the organization, which raises suspicions of attempts to buy influence in it, the dpa agency reminds.