Skip to main content

Authoritarian regimes have a playbook for silencing dissidents abroad. Interpol’s Red Notice system is one of their most powerful tools – and it’s being abused on a vast scale across Russia, Central Asia, and beyond.

To find out how it works — and what can be done – join Ben Keith, Rhys Davies and Leila Seiitbek on LinkedIn Live for a conversation on transnational repression and the future of Interpol.

Date: 24 March 2026
Time: 4PM GMT

🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eFPbVc4i 

Speakers include:
Leila Seiitbek, Chairwoman & Founder, Freedom for Eurasia – an exiled human rights lawyer from Kyrgyzstan who was herself the target of state persecution before being granted asylum in Austria. Her organisation is one of the foremost voices documenting how Central Asian regimes weaponise international legal mechanisms against dissidents and exiles.

Ben Keith, Barrister, 5 St Andrew’s Hill & Co-Founder, International Human Rights Advisors – Ranked as a Star Individual in Chambers & Partners and Band 1 in Legal 500 in extradition, and one of the world’s most experienced Red Notice removal practitioners.

Rhys Davies (Moderator), Barrister, Temple Garden Chambers & Co-Founder, International Human Rights Advisors – International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year, speaker at the Harvard International Law Journal Symposium, and co-author of “Undue Influence: The UAE and Interpol.”

The discussion will draw on our published analysis in the Kyiv Independent and extend it to the broader post-Soviet and Central Asian picture – examining how the same playbook operates across multiple regimes, what the consequences are for those targeted, and what structural reform of Interpol is needed to stop it.

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

Types

Categories