The Buzz | Interpol elects United Arab Emirates official as president

Interpol yesterday elected a contentious official from the United Arab Emirates as its new president during the international law enforcement body’s annual General Assembly held in Istanbul.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, inspector general at the United Arab Emirates’ interior ministry and a member of Interpol’s executive committee, was elected for one four-year term, the global policing body announced. He has been accused by human rights groups of involvement in torture and arbitrary detentions in the UAE.
Interpol said al-Raisi was elected following three rounds of voting and received 68.9% of the votes cast in the final round.
“It’s an honor to have been elected to serve as the next president of Interpol,” the global police agency quoted al-Raisi as saying.
The vote for president was being closely watched since the first-ever Chinese president of the body, Meng Hongwei, vanished midway through his four-year term on a return trip to China in 2018. It subsequently emerged that he had been detained, accused of bribery and other alleged crimes.