Four ways autocrats have used Interpol to harass distant enemies
Interpol is the largest police organization in the world. It serves as a powerful message board that governments and law enforcement agencies use to work together to pursue fugitives around the world. At best, it helps track down murderers and terrorists.
But it is also a new weapon for strongmen and autocrats in the hunt for political enemies, giving them the power to reach across borders and seize their targets – even in democracies.
Here are some ways countries can exploit Interpol:
Red notices
Interpol's red alert, the closest thing to an international arrest warrant, has long been dogged by controversy. An award-winning Venezuelan journalist was arrested in Peru. An Egyptian asylum seeker was arrested in Australia. And William F. Browder, a London-based human rights activist, has been repeatedly targeted for arrest by Russia.
In response, Interpol has tightened surveillance, making it harder than ever to abuse red notices. But as it focused on policing politically motivated abuse, other vulnerabilities have remained.
Abril Meixueiro discovered she had been issued a red notice for child abduction after returning to Colorado from Mexico with her young daughter. She had just been awarded full custody after a divorce from a man she described as violent and controlling.
The red notice, requested by police in Mexico, allowed the man to pursue Ms Meixueiro across borders. Interpol was not aware of a local police report concluding that she “experienced serious violence,” or of a restraining order issued by a judge against her former husband (who denies wrongdoing). It knew only that Mexico wanted her extradition on child abduction charges.
Interpol says it is investigating Ms Meixueiro's “concerning” case and has removed her data from its systems. For now, she is not flying to avoid the risk of being flagged by the agency's databases and sent back to Mexico. When she has to be at her office in Miami, she drives for three days.
Blue notices
Blue notices – alerts seeking information about someone – have roughly doubled in number over the past decade. While Interpol now checks every red notice before it is issued, it only examines blue notices after they have been distributed. These ex-post checks have identified 700 warnings since 2018 that were in breach of Interpol rules.
Advocates say they are seeing more cases of blue notices being used by countries looking to avoid the stricter controls on red notices.
For example, Russia was able to issue a blue notice for a man seeking asylum in Florida. It was claimed he was wanted for the assault and murder of a man who, according to Russian court records, was still alive.
Database for stolen and lost passports
One of the most challenging systems for Interpol police is the database of stolen and lost passports. Belarus and Turkey, for example, have turned the Interpol database into a weapon to harass dissidents or strand them abroad. The misuse of this tool became so bad that Interpol temporarily stopped Turkey from using it, and Belarus is now under special surveillance.
Such cases are more difficult to resolve than notices: Interpol does not have the authority to reissue a passport if it has already been seized.
Direct messages
Other communications, such as direct messages – known as dissemination – between countries via Interpol systems are often not reviewed at all, but could lead to an arrest.
Red spreads, which request a specific country's assistance in carrying out an arrest, are systematically checked before being released into circulation. But only an unspecified percentage of the other spreads are ever assessed.