The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (Pnat) confirmed to Agence France-Presse that it has assigned a regular investigator in Paris to investigate after a lawsuit with a representation of civil action for "torture" and "arbitrary detention" in 2018 and 2019.[/B] Raisi, who is also a senior Emirati police officer, is already the subject of a preliminary investigation by the Pnat into other allegations of torture
This type of lawsuit allows France to appoint a regular investigator almost automatically.
In a statement, the two Britons say they will "present on Wednesday evidence of the torture" they accuse Raisi of during a hearing "at the request of the investigator" of the special service for crimes against humanity at the Paris civil court.
The first plaintiff, Matthew Hedges, holds a PhD from Durham University in England.
In a press conference he held in Lyon in October, he had referred to the espionage charges[/B] of which he was the subject during a study trip to the UAE, on the basis of which he said he was arrested and subjected to torture between May and November 2018 and "forced to perjure himself".
After being sentenced to life in November 2018, he was pardoned less than a week later under international pressure.
In the same press conference, Ali Isa Ahmad, a security officer in Wolverhampton, said for his part that he was repeatedly beaten and even attacked with a knife during his stay from January to February 2019 in the emirate of Sharjah.
He had said that he was accused of having very openly supported during an Asian Cup match the Qatar football team by wearing a T-shirt bearing the flag of that country's rival UAE.
The chairmanship of Interpol is mainly an honorary post. Al-Raisi was elected president of the international police agency by member countries in November, much to the chagrin of human rights advocates and political officials.
Pnat has also launched a preliminary investigation into Major General al-Raisi following a complaint of "torture" and "acts of brutality" filed by the NGO Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) over the fate of Ahmed Mansour, one of the main human rights advocates in the UAE.
In a statement issued in January 2020, the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs had dismissed the NGOs' "baseless" allegations about Mansour's fate. On this issue, Interpol had argued in January that the dispute was "a matter between the parties concerned."
Source: CNA
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