Dizaei found guilty of misconduct

One of Scotland Yard’s top officers is facing the prospect of jail having been found guilty of threatening and falsely arresting a man in a row over money.

Commander Ali Dizaei, 47, was found to be engaged in a “wholesale abuse of power for personal motives” after he rowed with website developer Waad Al-Baghdadi, 24.

Dizaei owed the victim £600 for a personal website he had designed for him.
During the trial the jury heard that the two men met by chance in the Persian Yas restaurant, run by Dizaei’s friend Sohrab Eshragi, in Hammersmith Road, west London, on July 18 2008. Mr al-Baghdadi, 24, approached Dizaei and asked for £600 he was owed for building a website showcasing his career, press interviews and speeches.

Following this, Dizaei pursued Al-Baghdadi down an alley in his car before violently arresting him and telling him “I am responsible for 5,000 officers. I can —- your life”.

Dizaei later made false claims that Al-Baghdadi had attacked him with a sharp instrument and that he was involved in credit card fraud.

Following a month-long trial, the jury took two hours to unanimously convict Dizaei of misconduct in a public office and attempting to pervert the course of justice, following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The conviction is likely to signal the end of Dizaei’s controversial 24 year career in policing and it is expected that the Metropolitan Police will sack him for gross misconduct.