Deletion of Red Notice and Diffusion

The General Secretariat of INTERPOL confirmed to us on March 10, 2023 that our client is no longer registered with INTERPOL with a "Red Notice" or Diffusion. At INTERPOL, a long process was concluded in the 123rd session of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF) with an elaborate decision to cancel the Red Notice from Iran. The CCF prefaced its decision with the headline: "Political predominance, lack of criminal character and clear description of acts."

"Red Notice" from Iran

The prosecuted was the target of the Red Notice since 2016, which was based on a court decision from Tehran. We challenged this Red Notice at the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF) in 2022, essentially on the grounds that the prosecution of the Prosecutee in Iran was politically motivated and that the Red Notice was based on argued civil facts and, upon close analysis, already lacked a robust description of criminal acts. INTERPOL's National Central Bureau (NCB) in Tehran became involved in the proceedings at the CCF, but was unable to prevail because it was ultimately irrefutably shown that a flimsy factual basis was being used to make a "political" claim of a crime.

Diffusion from Lithuania deleted

At our request, INTERPOL also deleted a diffusion from Lithuania, of which INTERPOL had informed us in April 2022 upon specific request. In June / July 2022 we proved to INTERPOL in several pleadings that the arrest warrant from Lithuania was based on false facts and INTERPOL`s lengthy correspondence with the National Central Bureau NCB in Vilnius / Lithuania could no longer remove the serious objections of the prosecuted against the warrant, so that the responsible persons at the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL`s Files (CCF) decided to delete the diffusion.

Interpol's alert system

In Interpol's alert system - the central task of the organization - any member can request an alert (Notice), which is then forwarded by Interpol to all other members. The so-called "diffusions" are to be distinguished from the alerts (notices), which, according to our experience, have been increasing in recent times. With diffusions, a member state informs only selected member states by means of INTERPOL's communication channels. A diffusion is not distributed to all member states and is subject only to a limited internal INTERPOL review process. Diffusions are distributed to selected states through INTERPOL channels according to the issuing state's specifications and are even more susceptible to abuse than Red Notices. The diffusion may be a request for arrest, detention, or restriction of movement of a convicted or accused person sent directly from one national central office to other national central offices.
Preliminary review of the "Red Notice" at INTERPOL.

Otherwise, the General Secretariat of INTERPOL has to review a "Red Notice" before any publication according to Art. 86 RPD to see if it complies with the Constitution and other Interpol regulations. It is a question of verifying, before its publication, whether the Red Notice is in conformity with the INTERPOL Constitution and the INTERPOL rules, in particular with articles 2 and 3 of the INTERPOL Constitution (art. 86 RPD). We now know that this review must remain superficial. Also, the cases of abusive use of the APB revealed later in the extradition proceedings prove that with constructed representations of the alleged crime of general criminal law by the issuing states in order to pass INTERPOL filters.