Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qassimi, the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah will be raised amongst policy influencers in DC.
“The United States needs to retract Interpol's sovereign immunity to end Interpol’s abuse of innocent victims of a system in need of serious reform,” said Radha Stirling, Interpol and extradition expert witness and founder of Due Process International and IPEX Reform.
Sheikh Saud is single handedly responsible for countless foreign nationals being arrested at borders, locked up, defamed, separated from their families or held in countries incapable of understanding the complexity or extent of Interpol abuse.
American national Oussama El Omari, the former CEO of the RAK Free Trade Zone Authority, was targeted by the regime and placed on Interpol’s red notice database for his perceived loyalty to Saud’s rival brother. After Omari’s return to the US and subsequent legal actions, he was harassed, defamed and targeted by an Israeli intelligence firm. “Saud acts with impunity, claiming diplomatic immunity for his rogue actions”, said Radha Stirling, who acts for a number of Ras Al Khaimah victims. “Omari has issued proceedings against Interpol in New York for damages caused by the frivolous and vindictive red notice. It is time Interpol were made accountable for acting as the facilitator of abuse and the US courts should not allow the body to claim sovereign immunity.”
Saud was directly responsible for the lengthy and wrongful detention of Gela Mikadze in Georgia where the RAK ruler hoped he would be pressured enough to sign a confession.
Swiss national Dr Khater Massaad, the former head of RAKIA and RAK Ceramics, was responsible for putting the tiny emirate on the map. Massaad became a target for Saud when the insecure ruler felt he may sympathise with his rival brother who had been locked up in a villa, much like Princess Latifa. Massaad was Saud’s closest advisor and held the ruler’s secrets. Known as the “wild west of the emirates”, RAK had been exposed in the United States for Iran sanction violations, weapons dealing and money laundering. The ruler himself had been arrested in the US for sexual assault, accused of human trafficking, detaining and torturing foreign nationals.
Massaad was reported to Interpol, not just once, but FIVE times. “Never has it been more obvious that Saud uses Interpol as his personal vendettas database than in the reporting of Khater Massaad”, added Stirling. “Sheikh Mohammed reported Cptn. Hervé Jaubert to Interpol for ‘kidnapping’ Princess Latifa in a personal vendetta after her 2018 escape attempt with the former secret service agent, but Sheikh Saud is single handedly responsible for more personally motivated Interpol notices than any other individual ruler we’ve seen. He hands out legal rulings in the courts like his own personal business cards, showing just how corrupt the emirate is. Interpol is supposed to be an independent body though, one that should not be open to abuse by its members. When Saud uses his corrupt judgments to list people on Interpol, he transfers culpability to them. Interpol is fully aware of their own susceptibility to misuse by member states, but they are more focussed on financial contributions than on the individual rights of victims of their reporting.
“It is certainly time Sheikh Saud is held to account. The list of human rights abuses, wrongful detentions, forced confessions, hacking and even torture is extensive. We have conducted a five year long investigation, the results of which are shocking.
“We are working with Dr Massaad and other insiders to expose these abuses in a series to be released in July”.
Related resources:
- The Case of Oussama El Omari - NY Court orders damages for man targeted by UAE Sheikh [Podcast at Gulf in Justice]