How China abuses the Interpol Red Notice system to persecute Uyghurs

Interpol is broken and Uyghurs with other exiles around the world are bearing the brunt, say activists and lawyers hoping to find a way to fix the system.

Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, was formed in 1923 to coordinate global police cooperation and crime control, and now has 194 members. One of its better-known functions is to issue Red Notices, which are requests “to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition.”

Unfortunately, the Red Notice system is prone to abuse. It’s very easy for the security departments of Interpol member states to issue Red Notices for dissidents who are not criminals. There can be deadly consequences for innocent people, claim members of a panel convened recently at the U.K.’s House of Lords to flag Red Notice abuse and to explore solutions. Exiled Uyghurs are particularly vulnerable to this practice.

The more complicated the charge sheet, the less likely there will be any objection, according to panelist Ted Bromund, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. “It has particular value for China as many nations don’t have extradition treaties with Beijing, and it is used by China deliberately to evade the legal protections built into legitimate systems of extradition,” he told the House of Lords panel.

Once they are on the list, dissidents and other targets of security agents can be stopped with impunity at borders, and returned to whence they came with not so much as a whisper from other member states. Interpol members tend to trust one another blindly, which means that dissidents are guilty until proven innocent, Bromund says.

Leading a new charge to rein in Interpol’s “license to arrest” is a team of British lawyers backed by human rights activists and Bill Browder of Magnitsky Sanctions fame, who gathered with supporters to map out a way forward. Browder gave testimony to the House of Lords panel.

In the first of a series of meetings planned to challenge Interpol’s unaccountability, Browder described the body as a “nameless, faceless, black box, where they are not accountable to anybody.”

Following the Russian state-sponsored murder of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 for exposing corruption in the Russian police and state tax authorities, Browder was hounded with the help of Interpol: “Russia put me on a Red Notice eight times,” he told the House of Lords panel, “but it is not the only country abusing Interpol. China, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia also target dissidents and human rights activists.”

Nyrola Elimä, a Sweden-based Uyghur researcher, one of whose cousins, Mayila Yakufu, was put in a so-called reeducation camp and is now in prison, spoke of the agony of exiles, several of whom are on the Interpol list, unable to clear their names or to live normal lives in their country of refuge. Her recent research into the transnational repression of Uyghurs around the world uncovered a well of stress and uncertainty among exiles, living under the shadow of China’s long arm.

Even those who are “safe” in democratic countries continue to be harassed by Chinese authorities. The feeling that they are being watched is terrifying. “Imagine what it must be like to be on the Interpol Red List, with no power to engage lawyers, or access Interpol to clear your name,” she said.

Two prominent cases have shone the spotlight on Uyghurs listed by Interpol. Dolkun Isa, head of the World Uyghur Congress in Munich and a German national since 2006, was detained by Italian police in 2017 as he was about to set foot in the Italian Senate to speak on restrictions facing Uyghurs in China. He suspected China of conspiring with Italian police to detain him for several hours until the meeting was over.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lù Kāng 陆慷, commenting on Isa’s detention, described him as “a terrorist wanted on the Red Notice of the Interpol.”

Dolkun Isa maintains he eschews all forms of terrorism, but his inclusion on Interpol’s Red Notice list since 1999 has blackened his name and hampered his international efforts to raise awareness of the Uyghur cause. He faced arrest and detention in South Korea, India, Italy, Turkey, the U.S., and Italy, before finally in 2018 being removed from the list.

Less successful is Idris Hassan (also known by the Chinese transliteration Yidiresi Aishan), who was arrested in March 2021 in Morocco’s Casablanca airport under a Red Notice. He is still in detention, despite the Red Notice being annulled in August 2021 and an international outcry demanding his release. His situation is precarious and he could be extradited at any moment.

The NGO Safeguard Defenders has highlighted the “dangerous role” played by international judicial and policing cooperation mechanisms when these include countries that do not abide by the rule of law and international human rights standards. “Urgent scrutiny and reform of these mechanisms is needed as authoritarian regimes such as the P.R.C. seek to extend their long-arm policing efforts to crack down on dissent around the world,” the organization says. Necessary checks to ascertain guilt or otherwise were not made in Hassan’s case and Interpol is “responsible for its direct and grave responsibilities in the persecution of this Uyghur man.”

In theory, Interpol member states are bound by a constitution. Article 2 prioritizes human rights and Article 3 forbids “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character.”

Ben Keith, a barrister at London’s 5SAH chambers, and a specialist in Interpol law, told the House of Lords panel that repressive regimes such as Russia and China have started to play the system. Red Notices have allowed dictators and human rights abusers to hound dissidents in countries in which they would normally have no influence. Russia is the worst culprit, he says, but China is not far behind.

Interpol might be aware of Beijing’s ploys, says Keith, but at the present, there is no mechanism within its own ranks to challenge the system. “Politically motivated Red Notices have to stop,” he said.

The Red Notice system is notoriously opaque. There is no publicly available database, the listed are never told of their status, and most fugitives only discover they are on the roll when they cross a border. Requests can be made to Interpol, but replies take four months to be answered, or can be refused altogether. There is no legal aid or compensation for wrongful detention, and some countries deliberately leak names in order to destroy reputations, Keith told The China Project. Once leaked, banking systems can be notified, leading individuals to be “de-banked.” Travel to an increasing number of countries with extradition treaties with China becomes dangerous, and proving the charges are fabricated can be well nigh impossible.

Rehabilitating a victim’s reputation can take years.

Nyrola Elimä told The China Project, “China has been accused of abusing the Red Notice system to target Uyghurs who have committed no crimes but are perceived as a threat to Chinese authority. This poses a significant risk to the Uyghur diaspora, particularly stateless Uyghurs, who could face extradition to China and subsequent unfair treatment.”

Speaking to The China Project by phone, Idris Hassan’s wife, Zeynure, said that her husband had been in solitary confinement for 21 months since July 2021. He spends his days staring at the walls and sleeping. Allowed to have two or three short five-minute calls a week from his cell, Hassan speaks of his isolation and despair at the stalemate of his situation. His lawyers have told him that Morocco’s agreement to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment prevents his return to China, but fear of angering Beijing was still holding up his release. “When will I be free?” he keeps asking his wife.

Mrs. Hassan said that the lawyer provided by the UN had reached an impasse. A Marrakesh court had sat six times with no clear result. Hassan’s extradition had been ordered but not executed. He continues to wait in legal limbo while his penniless wife and three small children depend on handouts to get by. “I blame Interpol,” said Mrs. Hassan. “It’s their fault my husband is in this situation. He was found to be innocent of the charges and Interpol must work hard to get him out. They are not taking responsibility for this.”

“China has pursued the Uyghur community around the globe using not just Interpol, but as we have heard, threats, intimidation, and persuasion,” said Ben Keith. “China is using Interpol to say, “We want to be part of your club, we want to pretend that these people are criminals, and we want to show the world that we are genuinely pursuing corruption.”

Ted Bromund would like to see a consortium of free countries using their influence to back a candidate for the presidency of Interpol and to do away with nepotistic funding by states to buy influence. “Secrecy over decision-making processes, lack of consultation, secret lobbying, and secret votes must end,” he said. Suspending abusive members was also imperative. “There should be a penalty paid for abuse.”