UK academic Matthew Hedges files torture complaint against UAE Interpol chief during Glasgow visit

Two British nationals who were allegedly detained and tortured in the United Arab Emirates have submitted a criminal complaint to the Scottish police against the Emirati president of Interpol as he arrives in Glasgow for the security body’s annual meeting this week.

Academic Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad have accused Interpol President Ahmed Naser Al Raisi of overseeing torture at the detention facilities where they spent months incarcerated on dubious charges.

Al Raisi is the Gulf's state top police chief and is currently in the UK to attend the global crime agency's annual General Assembly meeting in Glasgow on Monday.

Raisi, who has served as inspector general of the UAE's interior ministry, is already facing a criminal investigation in France filed by Hedges and Ahmad two years ago, on the same allegations that he was an accomplice to torture in UAE prisons, a charge which he denies.

Hedges was accused of espionage and arrested in 2018 after a two-week research trip for his doctoral studies at Durham University in a high-profile case.

He was held in solitary confinement, forced to make false confessions, threatened with physical violence and made to witness torture, he told The New Arab on Thursday at a parliamentary event to discuss the UK government's role in ensuring accountability of alleged abuses by the Emirati state.

The Emirati government issued him an official pardon later that year following pressure from the British government, after he was handed a life sentence.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ahmad was brutally beaten by police officers and detained for wearing a Qatar football shirt on a trip to the UAE in January 2019. His lawyers say he was electrocuted, beaten and deprived of food, water, and sleep and before being released.

Hedges, who now works at Exeter University, told The New Arab on Thursday that he suffers from health problems from his incarceration, including dependency on medication he was prescribed in jail. He believes that the British government were slow to intervene in his arrest over concerns of offending the authorities in the oil-rich Emitates.

The UK government has been pursuing a major Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council which includes UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain and is seeking to secure a cross-sector deal which could bring more than one billion pounds to the UK economy annually.

The British Foreign Office formally apologised to Hedges last year for their handling of his arrest and what they said was a failure to spot the signs of abuse.

Although he welcomed the apology at the time, Hedges said on Thursday that the idea of the UAE ever being held accountable by British officials for its ill-treatment was an "absolute pipedream".

Human rights groups and some parliamentarians have been calling on the UK government to consider sanctions against Emirati individuals accused of abuses, and that ministers should ensure an that the FTA with the GCC is contingent on improvements to civil liberties and workers rights.

The criminal complaint against the Emirati casts a shadow on the annual meeting of the top international crime body and adds to existing controversies surrounding his appointment as president of the global police agency in 2021. German police chief Jürgen Stock runs the day-to-day affairs of Interpol as secretary-general.

His term will finish at the end of next year but there is growing support for Al Raisi to stand for a second term through an for an amendment to the Interpol constitution.

Fellow Gulf state Bahrain is reportedly one of the key members pushing for the amendment.

The complaints against Al Raisi in Scotland and France are under the principle of universal jurisdiction which enables states to arrest and prosecute those involved in serious crimes, such as torture, genocide or crimes against humanity, who are on their territory regardless of where the crime itself happened.

Hedges and Ahmad’s lawyers are hoping that the Scottish police will act against Al Raisi while he is in Glasgow. The police chief missed questioning by a French judge in June 2023 with the case lodged there after Al Raisi travelled to the Interpol headquarters in Lyon.

Barrister Rodney Dixon KC, who is representing Hedges and Ahmad, said for "too long" suspects like Al Raisi have travelled through countries without consequences.

"The irony is startling when he is currently serving as the head of the international police body, and seeking to extend his time in office," Dixon said in written comments.

Both Hedges and Ahmad are in Glasgow and are urging the Scottish police to act on the evidence submitted by the pair.

Ahmad said: "Since my release the UAE have done nothing at all to hold who did this to me to account. Al Raisi instead comes here to Glasgow to parade around as someone who stands to end crime. Nothing could be further from the truth. He needs to be subjected to justice for his actions and failures to act."

Interpol described the complaints against against Al Raisi as "an issue between the parties involved" and sought to downplay the president's role in the agency as "part-time and unpaid" in comments to The New Arab.

The New Arab has reached out to Interpol and the UAE Ministry of Interior but did not receive a response at the time of publication.