Abusive Saudi initiated UAE Interpol Red Notice Deleted by Radha Stirling

The secret billionaires conference that was attended by America's elite, including Kimbal Musk

Abusive Interpol Red Notice Deleted by Interpol and extradition crisis consultant, Radha Stirling

When a Jordanian business owner was wrongfully listed on Interpol by some of the most powerful men in Saudi Arabia, after some 5 years battling to clear his name, he finally turned to Radha Stirling for help. This week, the Red Notice against him was deleted.

Stirling is the founder of human rights advocacy group Due Process International and IPEX Reform, an Interpol and extradition reform campaign lobbying for greater transparency and accountability for the international policing organisation. Stirling has become the leading voice against what she terms ‘Interpol abuse’, and has successfully challenged countless wrongful Red Notices over the course of her career.

“Our client was hired by Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia to build a luxurious oasis two hours outside Riyadh where the prince was going to host a secretive meeting for the so-called ‘Rare 10’ group of billionaires”, Stirling explains, “From the outset my client was forced to deal with numerous middlemen as the prince tried to maintain a distance from the project, which it turns out, was part of an attempt to recruit support for his own bid to contest the throne. Payments were few and far between, and construction was therefore beset with problems. My client paid out of pocket for operating expenses and supplies throughout a considerable portion of the project, only to ultimately be refused reimbursement. To add insult to injury, the prince’s intermediaries accused my client of owing them money and filed a fabricated case against him in the UAE where his company was based. All of this, apparently, was because Prince Turki wanted to disown the project, and wanted to prevent my client from pursuing his rights in Saudi Arabian courts for fear that the ‘Rare 10’ meeting would be exposed. As a result of the UAE case and the subsequent Interpol Red Notice, my client lost his company and had to leave the region where he had spent years building his business and his reputation, and he suffered enormous financial losses.

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“Everyone involved in defrauding my client and wrongfully listing him on Interpol are in jail now for corruption in Saudi Arabia, and we are very relieved that his Red Notice nightmare is finally over. However, his case highlights once again the urgent need for Interpol reform; his name should never have been listed in the first place, but Interpol conducts no investigation into Red Notice requests, even when they are coming from countries with a long history of human rights violations, an absence of legal due process, and habitual abuse of the Interpol system. Removing a name from the database is a long, slow process that requires considerable expertise, while adding a name can be done in a keystroke. Authoritarian regimes, like those in the Gulf, are able to use Interpol to essentially assert universal jurisdiction, basically extending their own reach beyond their borders to interfere with foreign citizens. Countries where there is no due process or judicial integrity are able to pursue people abroad and to punish them with Red Notice listings that upend their lives and freedom for years.”

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Stirling warns that individuals often do not learn of their listing on Interpol until it is too

late, “Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE frequently convict people in absentia, and report them to Interpol without their knowledge,” she says, “Someone may not know they even have a criminal case against them in these countries until one day they get arrested at an airport.” Her organisation recently launched an Interpol prevention service whereby clients can pre-empt potential Red Notices before they are issued, Stirling explains, “We also provide police checks to discover any possible complaints that may be registered against a client, which are likely to escalate to Interpol if unresolved. It is simply too easy for states to have names listed on Interpol, and it is considerably more difficult to challenge a listing once it has been made; so, if we can intervene before that happens, clients can be spared the destructive impact of an abusive Red Notice.”