Category Archives: United Arab Emirates

Interpol appoints Emirati general accused of torture as president

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Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi of United Arab Emirates elected despite concerns of human rights groups and MEPs

An Emirati general accused of torture has been elected president of Interpol, despite the concerns of human rights organisations and members of the European parliament who fear the global police agency will be at risk of exploitation by repressive regimes.

The appointment follows generous funding by the United Arab Emirates for Interpol, which is based in Lyon, France, and accusations Abu Dhabi has abused its system of “red notices” for wanted suspects to persecute political dissidents.

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‘He is responsible for torture’: nominee for Interpol chief accused by detained Britons

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An academic and a football fan who were held in the United Arab Emirates claim Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi oversaw physical abuse

Two British men formerly detained in United Arab Emirates are campaigning to prevent a senior Emirati official from becoming the next president of Interpol, accusing him of personal involvement in their arrests and torture.

Academic Matthew Hedges, who was imprisoned in the UAE for seven months, and football fan Ali Issa Ahmad, detained while on holiday in Dubai for wearing a Qatar football shirt, accuse Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi of overseeing their detention and physical abuse.

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Work on ‘Chinese military base’ in UAE abandoned after US intervenes – report

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Satellite images reportedly detected construction of secret facility at Khalifa port amid growing US-China rivalry

US intelligence agencies found evidence this year of construction work on what they believed was a secret Chinese military facility in the United Arab Emirates, which was stopped after Washington’s intervention, according to a report on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite imagery of the port of Khalifa had revealed suspicious construction work inside a container terminal built and operated by a Chinese shipping corporation, Cosco.

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Slow burn: inside the 5 November Guardian Weekly

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Can the Middle East wean itself off oil? Plus: the return of Abba
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Few regions on Earth are more central to hopes of reining in global temperature increases than the Middle East. Financed by the west’s insatiable demand for fossil fuels, cities filled with air-conditioned skyscrapers and shopping malls have risen from the desert, and it’s not surprising that Gulf monarchies made rich and powerful by oil have paid little heed to thoughts of an economic transition to renewables, even though the region is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. But, asks our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour, could the long-term view be about to change?

The Cop26 climate conference got under way in Glasgow this week, amid a flurry of announcements and expectation. Follow the Guardian’s extensive coverage here.

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‘Apocalypse soon’: reluctant Middle East forced to open eyes to climate crisis

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With the region warming twice as fast as the rest of the world but oil spoils keeping regimes in power, leaders are in a bind

Northern Oman has just been battered by Cyclone Shaheen, the first tropical cyclone to make it that far west into the Gulf. Around Basra in southern Iraq this summer, pressure on the grid owing to 50C heat led to constant blackouts, with residents driving around in their cars to stay cool.

Kuwait broke the record for the hottest day ever in 2016 at 53.6, and its 10-day rolling average this summer was equally sweltering. Flash floods occurred in Jeddah, and more recently Mecca, while across Saudi Arabia average temperatures have increased by 2%, and the maximum temperatures by 2.5%, all just since the 1980s. In Qatar, the country with the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world and the biggest producer of liquid gas, the outdoors is already being air conditioned.

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Lawyers to submit Yemen war crimes dossier to UK police

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Key figures in Saudi Arabia and UAE accused of crimes against humanity include investors in Britain

A group of human rights lawyers will on Wednesday file a legal complaint in the UK accusing key figures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of being involved in war crimes relating to the war in Yemen.

They plan to submit a dossier to British police and prosecutors alleging that about 20 members of the political and military elite of the two Gulf nations are guilty of crimes against humanity, and call for their immediate arrest should they enter the UK.

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Has Interpol become the long arm of oppressive regimes?

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Once used in the hunt for fugitive criminals, the global police agency’s most-wanted ‘red notice’ list now includes political refugees and dissidents

Flicking through the news one day in early 2015, Alexey Kharis, a California-based businessman and father of two, came across a startling announcement: Russia would request a global call for his arrest through the International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol.

“Oh, wow,” Kharis thought, shocked. All the 46-year-old knew about Interpol and its pursuit of the world’s most-wanted criminals was from novels and films. He tried to reassure himself that things would be OK and it was just an intimidatory tactic of the Russian authorities. Surely, he reasoned, the world’s largest police organisation had no reason to launch a hunt for him.

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Cambridge University halts £400m deal with UAE over Pegasus spyware claims

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Exclusive: UK institution was in line for huge donation but has paused talks due to concerns Gulf state used hacking software

The University of Cambridge has broken off talks with the United Arab Emirates over a record £400m collaboration after claims about the Gulf state’s use of controversial Pegasus hacking software, the university’s vice-chancellor has said.

The proposed deal, hailed by the university in July as a “potential strategic partnership … helping to solve some of the greatest challenges facing our planet” – would have included the largest donation of its kind in the university’s history, spanning a decade and involving direct investment from the UAE of more than £310m.

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British football coach sentenced to 25 years’ jail in Dubai over CBD vape liquid

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Billy Hood’s family and campaign group Detained in Dubai working to appeal against convictions

A British football coach has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Dubai after police discovered four bottles of vape liquid containing CBD in the boot of his car.

Billy Hood, 24, from Kensington, was sentenced for trafficking, selling and possessing drugs after he claims he was forced by police to confess in Arabic, a language he does not speak.

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Ruling in Princess Haya case raises fresh questions for Cherie Blair

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Analysis: Blair is an adviser to NSO Group, whose Pegasus spyware was found to have been used in phone hack

The finding by a senior judge that NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used by the ruler of Dubai to hack the phone of his ex-wife and five of her associates, all resident in England, raises fresh questions about Cherie Blair’s involvement with the company.

NSO has previously said that its malware, which infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones, is only intended for use by its government clients against criminals and terrorists.

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Dubai ruler hacked ex-wife using NSO Pegasus spyware, high court judge finds

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Sheikh Mohammed used spyware on Princess Haya and five associates in unlawful abuse of power, judge rules

The ruler of Dubai hacked the phone of his ex-wife Princess Haya using NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus spyware in an unlawful abuse of power and trust, a senior high court judge has ruled.

The president of the family division found that agents acting on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, a close Gulf ally of Britain, hacked Haya and five of her associates while the couple were locked in court proceedings in London concerning the welfare of their two children.

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It’s a wrap: Christo’s final art project follows Paris triumph

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As the covers come off the Arc de Triomphe, work begins to realise an ambitious project in the desert and secure the artist’s legacy

Before he died last year the artist Christo had not one but two dreams: to wrap the Arc de Triomphe and to build a massive structure out of oil drums in the desert sands of Abu Dhabi. L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped was completed last month and today visitors to Paris will have one last chance to see the arch swathed in silver blue fabric before it is dismantled tomorrow.

Once he has overseen the monument’s restoration to its original glory in time for Armistice commemorations next month, Christo’s nephew Vladimir Yavachev will turn his attention east to create the last monumental project that – if completed – will be the artist’s only permanent large-scale sculpture and the largest artwork in the world.

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Tory donor’s oil firm admits employees paid bribes to get contracts

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Petrofac made admission as part of deal to end four-year corruption investigation by Serious Fraud Office

A multinational oil firm, which was led by a major Conservative donor, has admitted that its employees paid bribes to land contracts, as it struck a deal to end a corruption investigation into the company.

The admission was announced by the firm, Petrofac, on Friday to settle a four-year corruption and money laundering investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

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US charges American mercenary hackers over their work in UAE

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Three former US intelligence operatives accused of helping UAE spy on enemies

Three former US intelligence operatives, who went to work as mercenary hackers for the United Arab Emirates, are facing federal charges of conspiring to violate hacking laws, according to justice department court documents filed on Tuesday.

The three men, Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Gericke, are accused of having been part of a clandestine unit named Project Raven, first reported by Reuters, that helped the United Arab Emirates spy on its enemies.

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From 1m trees to a tree graveyard: how Dubai’s conservation plans went awry

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Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertification

It all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as smiling officials applauded around him.

In 2010, the One Million Trees initiative was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. The aim of the launch was to increase green areas in Dubai through afforestation, while contributing to overall beautification of the city.

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Princess Latifa campaigners disband after cousin says she is ‘happy and well’

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Free Latifa’s co-founder, Latifa’s cousin Marcus Essabri, was photographed with her in Iceland

The organisers of a campaign to free Princess Latifa, who was captured three years ago trying to leave Dubai by her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, have disbanded it after the latest photograph of the princess out with friends emerged, and her cousin, the campaign’s co-founder, confirmed he had seen her looking happy and well.

A photo of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum and her cousin, Marcus Essabri, in Iceland along with Sioned Taylor, a British woman who has previously appeared in pictures with Latifa, was posted on Taylor’s Instagram account on Monday. Latifa has not yet spoken publicly.

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Suspected tanker hijacking off UAE coast is over, says British military

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Armed group has left the Panama-registered Asphalt Princess, says British navy, after initial reports Iranian-backed forces had raided vessel

A group of armed men who boarded a tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman have left the targeted ship, the British navy has said without elaborating.

The notice on Wednesday came after the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) warned of a “potential hijack” under unclear circumstances underway the night before.

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Powerbrokers of Arab world will be closely watching Tunisia

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Analysis: while the politics behind the government’s dismissal are local, regional players will want to influence what happens next

In the decade since the Arab spring, the crucible of the uprisings has been where its legacy has been thrashed out.

Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, where it all began from mid-December 2010, have remained central to the narrative of what took place when autocracies crumbled in the face of restive streets. And for the region’s powerbrokers, all three north African states have since been the centre of an even bigger tussle for influence.

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Dubai suspected after Princess Haya listed in leaked Pegasus project data

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Closest aides and friends of emir’s ex-wife also began to appear on database as she moved to the UK

As her plane touched down in April 2019, Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, who was accompanied by her two children, might have hoped she was beyond the reach of her ex-husband, the emir of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

Similarly, when he commenced custody proceedings in the high court of justice the following month, she might have imagined that the dispute would be settled in a courtroom, purely on the basis of its legal merits.

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Large explosion on container ship at Jebel Ali port rocks Dubai – video

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A container ship anchored at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port caught fire, causing a huge explosion that sent tremors across the United Arab Emirates’ commercial hub. The explosion was seen kilometres away and unleashed a shock wave through the city

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