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On 23 September 2026, more than 100 guests came to the Inner Temple for the launch of INTERPOL Law and Practice, the new book by IHR Advisors’ founding partners Ben Keith and Rhys Davies. The evening brought together practitioners, judges, academics, NGOs and people who have been through the INTERPOL Red Notice system themselves.

A full room at the Inner Temple

The guests included barristers and solicitors from extradition and human rights practice, along with representatives of civil society organisations working on transnational repression. Several former clients came too.

Thomson Reuters ran a stand through the evening and sold copies of the book to guests.

Why a book on INTERPOL law was needed

INTERPOL Law and Practice is a practitioner’s guide to how INTERPOL notices and diffusions are issued, reviewed and challenged. It follows a case from the request by a National Central Bureau, through the checks by the Notices and Diffusions Task Force, to a deletion application before the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF).

The need comes from practice. INTERPOL’s Constitution forbids political involvement under Article 3 and requires respect for human rights under Article 2. The Rules on the Processing of Data set procedures and time limits. The CCF’s own Statute gives it nine months to decide a deletion request. The people we act for often find that what happens to them bears little relation to those rules. The gap between INTERPOL’s rules and INTERPOL’s practice is where clients get hurt.

The book was written for anyone who has to work in that gap: defence lawyers, extradition judges, immigration and asylum practitioners, compliance teams, and individuals who suddenly find they cannot cross a border. It draws on the casework behind this site and behind Undue Influence: The UAE and Interpol, which the authors also co-wrote.

How IHR Advisors can help

Our INTERPOL practice acts for people facing Red Notices and Diffusions. We handle pre-emptive submissions before a notice is published, deletion requests and interim suspension before the CCF, and the extradition proceedings that follow an arrest. Where a notice is part of a wider campaign against a critic or a business, we also advise on international law remedies and sanctions advocacy.

Our thanks go to the Inner Temple for hosting us, to Thomson Reuters for publishing the book and staffing the stand, and to everyone who came. INTERPOL Law and Practice is available from Sweet & Maxwell.

If you or a client are affected by an INTERPOL notice, contact us in confidence.

About the Authors

Ben Keith Barrister

Ben Keith is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, extradition, international human rights law and asylum. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Ben represents clients across every region in INTERPOL Red Notice and Diffusion challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files. He has secured the deletion of Notices issued by states including Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Belarus, Iran and Venezuela, in cases involving journalists, opposition political figures, refugees, human rights defenders and business figures targeted in commercial and political disputes. He is the author of the INTERPOL chapter in The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (Global Investigations Review, 2026).

Ben has appeared as counsel before the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber, the UK Supreme Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the UN Committee Against Torture. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

He regularly acts for politically exposed persons, journalists, human rights defenders and high net worth individuals facing extradition, INTERPOL Notices and other instruments of transnational repression. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including the Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, the BBC, Sky News, CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, The Economist, Politico and Al Jazeera.

Ben is ranked Star Individual in Chambers and Partners and a leading individual in The Legal 500 for extradition. He practises from 5 St Andrew’s Hill in London.

View Ben Keith's profile
Rhys Davies Barrister

Rhys Davies is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, international criminal law and international human rights law. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Rhys co-authored the report Undue Influence: the UAE and INTERPOL with Sir David Calvert-Smith, examining the systemic misuse of INTERPOL’s Notice and Diffusion systems by the United Arab Emirates and the implications for INTERPOL’s governance. He represents clients in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files, with particular focus on cases involving Middle Eastern and Central Asian states, and on the position of refugees, journalists and political dissidents targeted through INTERPOL by their states of origin.

Rhys has significant experience of in-country legal advice and assistance, most recently in the West Bank, and a specific interest in the Middle East. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He regularly speaks at, and chairs, events at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the House of Commons on matters of international law.

Rhys is the author of numerous articles on INTERPOL Red Notice practice and on justice in the Middle East, and is in demand as a commentator on international human rights. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, City AM and Al Jazeera.

Rhys is recommended as a leading individual in The Legal 500. He practises from Temple Garden Chambers in London and The Hague.

View Rhys Davies's profile