UK officials arrested Rwandan intelligence chief Emmanuel Karenzi Karake at London’s Heathrow Airport in “connection with war crimes” in a move that has outraged Rwandan government officials.
The British High Commission in Rwanda confirmed Tuesday that the Metropolitan Police arrested Karake, who’s the head of Rwanda’s National Intelligence and Security Services, early Saturday on behalf of the Spanish authorities.
“This was a legal obligation, following the issue of a valid European Arrest Warrant,” the commission said on its Facebook page. It added that Britain had been “a close partner in Rwanda’s remarkable progress since the horrific events of the genocide in 1994.”
The Metropolitan Police said Karake, 54, appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday afternoon “after being arrested on a European Arrest Warrant on behalf of the authorities in Spain, where he is wanted in connection with war crimes against civilians.”
Karake was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court again Thursday, police said.
