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05 June 2023

Open Letter to Secretary General of Interpol from The Arrested Lawyers Initiative

Ben Keith & Rhys Davies

Ben Keith sends Open Letter to Interpol on behalf of The Arrested Lawyers Initiative on 5 June 2023

INTERPOL SHOULD TAKE A MORE ROBUST APPROACH TO PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS BY ERADICATING THE MISUSE OF INTERPOL’S DATABASES BY TURKISH AUTHORITIES

5 June 2023

Dear Secretary General Stock,

We, the undersigned, are concerned about Turkey’s misuse of INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Document (SLTD) system, and about INTERPOL’s ability to adhere to its human rights obligations by implementing protections against such misuse.

It is widely reported that the Turkish Government is deliberately misusing INTERPOL’s SLTD database to circumvent the formal extradition process and to evade INTERPOL’s controls of Notices and Diffusions. Turkish authorities misuse the SLTD mechanism by improperly recording as lost or stolen or revoked or invalid the passports of dissidents in an attempt to have them deported to Turkey where they face political reprisals.

The Nordic Research Monitoring Network has published leaked documents from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization showing that the country abuses INTERPOL’s SLTD system to bypass a set of restrictions imposed on Turkey’s access to the Red Notice database.[i]

INTERPOL is required by its Constitution not to take any action of a political nature and to comply with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). Freedom of movement is a fundamental human right enshrined in the UDHR and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Turkish Constitutional Court has repeatedly ruled that the revocation or invalidation of passports by the Government is unlawful because the revocation of travel documents must only be done by court order. Despite the rulings, over 300,000 Turkish citizens remain banned from travelling because their passports have been unconstitutionally cancelled.

Any use of INTERPOL’s SLTD database to record a passport as lost, stolen, or revoked without evidence of a court order will be in direct violation of INTERPOL’s Constitution and Rules. We, the undersigned, request that, as a matter of urgent priority, INTERPOL adopts measures to prevent abuse of its SLTD database and to immediately delete all non-compliant data on the SLTD database.

A 2019 study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights recommended that INTERPOL ‘should take steps to hold the NCBs accountable for their misapplication of Interpol rules and regulations, applying Articles 130 and 131 of the RPD.[ii]  The Notices and Diffusions Task Force can request additional information from NCBs in order to decide whether a Notice is compliant. We recommend implementing a similar review mechanism for the SLTD database to protect INTERPOL from misuse and individuals from human rights violations.

Please find attached a detailed report on how Turkey misuses INTERPOL’s SLTD database and case studies demonstrating the associated risks and human rights violations.

Actions

  1. We ask that INTERPOL suspends Turkey from using INTERPOL databases until the General Assembly can make a final decision. This power is given to the General Secretariat under Article 130 of the RPD.

  2. We ask that INTERPOL suspends Turkey from the use of the SLTD database until further checks can be put in place.

Sincerely,

The Arrested Lawyers Initiative, Belgium

Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament

Dr Theodore Bromund, The Heritage Foundation

William Browder, Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign

Nicola Canestrini, Italian human rights lawyer

Javier Cremades, President of the World Jurist Association

Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament

Rhys Davies, UK Barrister, Editor of Red Notice Monitor

Gunnar Ekeløve-Slydal, Deputy Secretary General of The Norwegian Helsinki Committee

Michelle Estlund, US Attorney

Enes Kanter Freedom, US

Human Rights Foundation, US

Human Rights Defenders, Germany

Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU), Italy

Ben Keith, UK Barrister, Editor of Red Notice Monitor

Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC, Member of the UK House of Lords and Chair of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute

Yuriy L. Nemets, Esq., US Attorney

Dr Anna Oehmichen, German human rights lawyer

Professor Laurent Pech, The Good Lobby, Belgium

Marie-Aimée Peyron, Vice President Conseil National des Barreaux-Bâtonnier de Paris (2018-2019)

Roger Sahota, UK Solicitor, Editor of Red Notice Monitor

Professor Antonio Stango, President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights

State Watch, UK

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee

Mick Wallace, member of the European Parliament

Ali Yildiz, Brussels-based human rights lawyer

[i] https://nordicmonitor.com/2021/08/turkey-set-a-plan-in-motion-to-manipulate-interpol-in-hunting-down-critics-opponents/

[ii] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EXPO_STU(2019)603472

[iii] Report on Turkey’s Abuse of INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents Database by The Arrested Lawyers Initiative

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About the Authors

Ben Keith
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.

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Rhys Davies
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

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