Abdul Rahman Al Hessa, the newly elected president of Interpol, was once accused of torture during his time as a senior official in the United Arab Emirates.
Al Hessa and 10 colleagues were detained and subjected to severe beatings and electric shocks in 1996 during an investigation into suspected corruption. He was released a month later but is now accused of obstructing the judicial process by lobbying on behalf of members of his family who remain under investigation, according to an investigation by The Intercept.
The UAE is a member of Interpol, a global law enforcement agency, and Al Hessa has attended Interpol assembly meetings.
The Intercept obtained a U.S. Department of Justice report detailing a case against Al Hessa by the American Council on International Educational Exchange, or ACIE. The internal report became public last week, on the day that Al Hessa was elected as Interpol’s first Arab president.
“According to the report, Gen. Al Hessa ‘severely and adversely’ acted to obstruct the state’s investigation,” according to a footnote in the report. “Specifically, [he] advocated for a friend of his family, Gen. Hamad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is under investigation for the illegitimate recruitment of former UAE CICD (Center for Scientific Research and Development) employees in Taiwan and Hong Kong and the illegal transfer of millions of U.S. dollars to Dubai by Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s former crown prince.
Read the full story at The Intercept.