Interpol Red Notice Prevention Service
Abuse of the Interpol system by countries around the world has been steadily increasing in recent years, with Gulf States leading the trend.
Of particular concern are those countries which have positioned themselves as investment destinations for foreign business people, such as China and the BRICS nations.
“The overwhelming majority of abusive Red Notices issued by Interpol relate to financial disputes,” explains Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and Due Process International, “Foreign investors can easily find themselves subjected to wrongful criminal charges in countries like the UAE when business deals fall through, or when they are defrauded by local partners. Even minor issues like bounced cheques will immediately be referred to Interpol after a conviction has been obtained, usually in absentia, and perfectly innocent people end up being listed alongside dangerous international fugitives.”
Stirling, who also founded Interpol and Extradition Reform (IPEX), has been the leading voice against abuse of the Red Notice system, and has successfully secured the removal of countless clients from the Interpol database. “We have a 100% success rate in getting wrongful listings deleted,” She explains, “The removal process is inordinately long and bureaucratic, while listing someone on the database happens with a keystroke. Interpol does no vetting of Red Notice requests, even from known Interpol abusers like the Gulf countries, China, and Turkey. They will agree to issue a Notice even when the nature of the request does not conform to Interpol’s own rules on data collection.”
The increasing cases of abuse prompted Stirling to launch a new service to help pre-empt wrongful Interpol listings, “We have built a relationship with Interpol over the course of more than a decade,” Stirling says, “Through our work, Interpol has become more sensitive about abusive Notices, and we have established an understanding whereby we can alert them that wrongful requests may be submitted to Interpol regarding particular clients, so that such requests may be first scrutinised for their compliance with Interpol’s rules before a listing is issued. With this service, we hope to be able to help clients avoid ever being wrongfully subjected to an abusive Red Notice.”
Stirling’s Interpol Prevention support marks a significant step in combatting Interpol abuse, and can potentially save innocent people from having their lives turned upside-down for months on end, trying to remove their names from the Interpol database when they should never have been listed in the first place.
INTERPOL notices are International requests of co-operation or alerts, allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information.
In the case of Red Notices, the persons concerned are wanted by the national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant, or court decision. INTERPOL's role is to assist in identifying and locating these persons with a view to arrest and extradition, or similar lawful action. The imposition of a Red Notice will have a significant impact on those unfortunate enough to be targeted - especially if featured on INTERPOL's public webpage.
International travel becomes unsafe, but collateral damage can also be severe; closure of bank accounts; professional and personal reputations become damaged and, in some cases a criminal investigation will ensue. If anyone finds themselves in this tense predicament, our role is to help you re-claim your freedom and allow you to resume a normal life. We engage with INTERPOL directly, putting forward substantiated reasons why a notice should be withdrawn. In some cases this can be simply because the UAE has failed to withdraw the notice to update its local database, or there may be more complex issues involved and we will work towards a clear and solid outcome.
If you have been threatened with INTERPOL action, suspect that you have been reported or are aware of an INTERPOL Red Notice, please contact us for urgent advice and consultation respecting its prevention or removal.
STIRLINGPRESS: Interpol Information/Press Pack, read online below, or download .pdf here.
InterpolRed Notice Removal: Press Pack. FAQ
A small selection of our Interpol Red Notice clients
Olympian Pancho Campo was listed on Interpol's Red Notice database by the UAE, tarnishing his reputation & livelihood.
US citizen wrongfully listed on Interpol by UAE's jailed hotel tycoon Khalaf Al Habtoor
Scottish man was arrested in Greece on a Qatar issued Interpol Red Notice over herb grinder
Alan Stevenson detained in Prague on Qatar issued Interpol Red Notice.
Robert Urwin - arrested in Ukraine over UAE issued Interpol Red Notice. Radha Stirling, expert witness, removed his Interpol notice.
Football player shook Australia when Bahraini star was subject to an Interpol Red Notice and extradition proceedings after being arrested in Thailand
Herve Jaubert was twice listed on Interpol's database by the UAE, once for the false allegation of kidnapping a princess.
Stirling's Interpol Media
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An Emirati’s potential appointment as Interpol head draws criticism
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Interpol Abuse Working Group to hear of RAK ruler’s personal vendettas
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INTERPOL - ‘Urgent reform needed to prevent human rights abuses’, leading expert says
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New Gulf in Justice Podcast Episode - Joseph Sarlak, Australian jailed in Doha by Qatari Royal
IPEX (Interpol & Extradition) Reform
Established by Radha Stirling, founder and CEO of Detained in Dubai, and a leading voice against Interpol abuse, Interpol and Extradition Reform (IPEX) is a comprehensive initiative to address the widespread and multilayered problems with the current framework of the extradition process, including the many flaws in Interpol itself as an organisation. Radha Stirling has successfully lobbied Australian Parliament to include human rights provisions in their extradition treaty with the UAE, appeared for the defence as an expert witness in several high profile extradition cases and has worked tirelessly to remove wrongfully listed clients from Interpol’s database. She has led the call for greater Interpol transparency and reforms to end abuse by an emerging “authoritarian nexus” which misuses the Interpol Red Notice system to circumvent due process.
IPEX demands that Interpol implement practical measures to ensure the protection of refugees from politically motivated malicious extradition requests, including the establishment of data sharing agreements with the UNHCR and national governments so that individuals who have been granted asylum will not be put at risk of extradition to the countries from which they have fled. This proposal is currently supported by prominent barristers in the United Kingdom, human rights organisations, and activists.
Furthermore, IPEX suggests core reforms to state-to-state extradition requests and Interpol protocols to ensure these processes will not be used for political persecution, extortion of debtors, and in an attempt to circumvent international standards of due process by instituting a global criteria for the consideration of extradition requests which include human rights concerns and the integrity of national legal systems.
Balancing the books: Philip Wood, QC
Detained in Dubai tackles alleged abuse - by Philip Wood, QC - The Times
Philip Wood, QC, the former Allen & Overy partner and Yorke distinguished visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge, has just published nine books simultaneously in his revised Law and Practice of International Finance series. These are enormous tomes of authoritative analysis. Wood is the first author to produce summaries of the relevant law of every jurisdiction in the world.
Undeterred in Dubai
The relentless energy of the campaigners at Detained in Dubai continues to amaze as they take on one case of alleged abuse and miscarriage of justice after another. The organisation’s attention is now also engaged in countering the misuse of the Interpol notice system, including allegedly by banks such as HSBC Bank Middle East. Radha Stirling, the group’s chief executive, seems fairly blasé about the risks involved challenging powerful state bodies. “When you deal with clients whose lives are in crisis, often devastating situations; wrongly jailed, lost jobs, income, reputation, and with their families in a state of traumatic upheaval, you tend to focus on the risks and dangers they are dealing with rather than any risks involved with helping them,” she says.
Listen to the Gulf in Justice Podcast on Interpol Abuse on Spotify
