Abuse of Interpol’s Red Notices: It’s Not Just Putin and It’s Not Just Bill Browder
The New York Times has a good piece, the title of which speaks for itself: How Strongmen Turned Interpol Into Their Personal Weapon:
Hakeem al-Araibi thought he had escaped the reach of the Bahraini government when he fled to Australia years ago as a political refugee. But immediately after landing in Thailand for a belated honeymoon last year, Mr. al-Araibi was arrested and scheduled to be sent back to his native country.
Bahrain, which has been accused of torture and other abuses, had used what is known as an Interpol red notice to reach across the world and grab him, despite rules meant to protect refugees.
Abuse of Interpol is not restricted to Russia going after Bill Browder. It is used by countries like Turkey, Egypt, and Venezuela to go after journalists and dissidents.
I guess we still accept that countries can run their internal affairs the way they like. Are we going to invade every country that persecutes free speech? But we don’t have to let those countries use our rule of law institutions to do their dirty work.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
Heh! “How Strongmen Turned Interpol Into Their Personal Weapon”? Presidents of the Interpol have included two heads of the Gestapo and the head of an Einsatzgruppe.
nk (dbc370) — 3/22/2019 @ 8:02 amThe last one was from the Chinese (PRC) secret police, wasn’t he?
nk (dbc370) — 3/22/2019 @ 8:03 amYes, and he was secretly arrested on a trip back to China, and after awhile China had to admit that, and he lost his job at Interpol. His position was mpre of sceremonial one, though.
Sammy Finkelman (e70ce9) — 3/22/2019 @ 8:05 amThe same Turkey that Bezos gave a mouthpiece to practically threaten new zealand
Narciso (3050e9) — 3/22/2019 @ 8:37 amI don’t think live Internet censorship is a good idea either. First, nobody gets mortivated (and trained) to commit murders by he Internet alone, although someone may be encouraged to proeed by the thought that they are part of a big movement, which is a lie. It’s really nothing to worry about. Evil organizations is what people need to worry about.
More important:
Any techniques that companies develop for eliminating forbidden content will be used by dictatorships as well. So they shouldn’t get too good at it.
Too many tech companies were manipulated into eliminating spam – that prevented mass emails into China so that details of the oppression and crimes they are doing would not become know to the wider public inside there.
That doesn’t eliminate all possibilities. People smuggle flash drives into North Korea , sometimes disguised to look like they have only non-sensitive content. Or they used to.
Sammy Finkelman (e70ce9) — 3/22/2019 @ 8:52 amDon’t the receiving countries have an option as to whether they will take action on an Interpol Red Notice?
John B Boddie (66f464) — 3/22/2019 @ 10:02 amDon’t the receiving countries have an option as to whether they will take action on an Interpol Red Notice?
Yes, yes, they do. That’s why Bill Browder has not been extradited to Russia by the U.S. or UK.
nk (dbc370) — 3/22/2019 @ 10:09 amthere was a Cuban dissident, ramon saul sanchez, who had been involved in direct action, twenty years ago, now he was a non violent activist, Interpol still had his notice from that time, whereas a whole host of political figures are not touched, of course judge garzon, wanted to put w and cheney in the dock,
narciso (d1f714) — 3/22/2019 @ 10:27 am6. 7. But it can take the bureaucracy of a country some time to realize that an arrest warrant ix invalid. People have gotten detained.
Sammy Finkelman (e70ce9) — 3/22/2019 @ 11:20 amhttps://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2019/03/21/msnbc-now-explaining-how-president-trump-is-going-to-weaponize-the-mueller-report/
narciso (d1f714) — 3/22/2019 @ 12:17 pm@10. Breaking- Mueller Report submitted to AG Barr at DOJ; Trump jets off to Mar-A-Lago…
“Next stop, Switzerland! – Hanley [James Garner] ‘The Great Escape’ 1963
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/22/2019 @ 2:10 pm@11. ^amendment; letter of intent states submission ‘this weekend.’
Copier paper sale at Office Depot, Sunday?!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/22/2019 @ 2:22 pmI seem to recall that Thailand is not exactly free speech friendly on its own account.
Kishnevi (48df09) — 3/22/2019 @ 2:47 pmI guess I have a lower expectation of government and bureaucracies than our host, because NONE of this surprises me. “Good government” is an oxymoron. All there is is “bad” and “not so bad.”
Kevin M (21ca15) — 3/23/2019 @ 11:36 pmDCSCA is still SURE there’s an impeachment pony hiding in that Mueller crap. He’s lucky Mueller didn’t indict half the FBI.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 3/23/2019 @ 11:38 pmAfter reading Red Notice and all the latest info, its hard to believe Browder is not behind bars. Somewhere. Or found face down.
mg (8cbc69) — 3/24/2019 @ 4:02 amUnlike berezovsky or glushkov.
https://mobile.twitter.com/38NorthNK/status/1105949280257363968
Narciso (b411db) — 3/24/2019 @ 6:10 amThis goes back to, at least, McGarret v. Wo Fat.
Sidney Toler No.2 (6e878b) — 3/27/2019 @ 10:21 am