It's a system which is meant to enable police forces to flag their most wanted persons at international borders around the world.
But, for some, Interpol's red notices have had devastating consequences - they're detained, imprisoned, and extradited, after being wrongly targeted.
Sahar Zand investigates the red notice system - and gets a rare chance to speak to the organisation's Secretary General.
Regular people, dissidents and Interpol insiders explain how bad actors have been able - in some cases - to hijack the system to capture people beyond their borders.
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26 Feb 2024
Episode Four: One Of The Worst
Warning: This episode contains descriptions of torture
In our final episode, Sahar Zand tells the story of Jessica, who spent six years in US detention because of a "bogus" Interpol red notice issued after she was harassed by a police officer in her home country, El Salvador.
The US has specific legislation to prevent Interpol being used for transnational repression, but immigration authorities appear to ignore guidance not to arrest someone solely because of a red notice.
There's a closer look at the president of Interpol, Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi - a senior police officer in the UAE - who human rights lawyers say is one of the biggest offenders of Interpol abuse.
And to round off the series, UK security minister Tom Tugendhat explains his appetite for governance changes.
In episode two of the series, the Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock spoke to Dirty Work about the red notice system.
He said: "I think it is a very robust system, and it is a very successful system first and foremost because it helps almost every day around the world to catch dangerous fugitives, murderers, rapists, those who are exploiting children, drug traffickers."
When asked about people ending up with a notice who shouldn't, he said it is "a small number of cases, but of course, very often significant cases that end up in the media and where we say, yes, this notice should not have been published".
Presenter: Sahar Zand
Producer: Heidi Pett
Senior producer: Sarah Burke
Sound designer: James Bradshaw
Editor: Paul Stanworth
3 Aug 2023
Episode Three: Life Sentence
In this episode, Sahar Zand goes back to speak to Brian Glendinning about his experience in Iraqi jail, and the harrowing impact of his unforeseen arrest. But Brian, compared to some people, is still lucky.
For dissidents and opposition figures around the world, the Red Notice is the latest tool for transnational repression by autocratic governments. These people often end up in prison indefinitely, or extradited to the countries they had long fled for safety.
With expert analysis from Rhys Davies and Ben Keith - authors of Red Notice Monitor - we take a look at the worst case scenarios for being on the wrong end of a Red Notice.
Sahar meets Zeynure and her three children. They are Uyghur exiles living in Istanbul. Zeynure’s husband, Idris Hasan, has been in prison in Morocco for two years facing extradition to China. Uyghur activists like Idris are increasingly at risk of Red Notices, experts tell us, as China has increased its use of Interpol as a tool of transnational repression. Sahar talks to Idris, who says this Red Notice has been a death sentence. A potential return to China is “worse than death.”
Plus, Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP who chairs the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, tells Dirty Work about the committee’s “grave concerns” over how the system works. She calls on the Home Office to find a way to inform British nationals if they’re the subject of a malicious red notice.
WARNING: This episode contains strong language.
Presenter: Sahar Zand
Producer: Heidi Pett
Senior producer: Sarah Burke
Sound designer: James Bradshow
Editor: Paul Stanworth
27 Jul 2023
Episode Two: Hijacked
In this episode, Sahar Zand continues to follow Brian Glendinning's story - whose Interpol Red Notice raises significant questions about how the system works.
Brian found himself in a dangerous prison in a country he'd never been to - because of a small amount of debt in Qatar. His case poses bigger questions about what kind of justice Interpol Red Notices serve.
Sahar also speaks to Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock who has undertaken a series of reforms to try to make it harder for wrongful Red Notices to get through the net.
In a rare interview, he explains why it was his priority to reform a system that had let so many people down. Sahar asks how wrongful notices still get through, and why the reforms have not gone far enough to protect some innocent people from detention and extradition.
Interpol expert Ted Bromund explores how the Red Notice system began and how it evolved from the story of two plane hijackings in the 1970s. We look at Interpol's governance system, and the opportunities and pitfalls that presents for the integrity of the system.
Sahar visits Grant, a British Army veteran, who is rebuilding his life in London, after losing everything in Qatar following a Red Notice. Grant talks about the pain of knowing you aren't guilty, and losing everything anyway.
And she speaks to Radha Stirling, the activist who has helped Brian Glendinning try to navigate the system to fight their wrongful Red Notices, and try to rebuild their lives.
Presenter: Sahar Zand
Producer: Heidi Pett
Senior Producer: Sarah Burke
Sound Designer: James Bradshaw
Editor: Paul Stanworth
19 Jul 2023
Episode One: Russian Roulette
In the first of three episodes, Sahar Zand meets the ordinary people who say their lives have been upturned by Interpol Red Notices which should never have been issued. These people never knew there was a Red Notice out for them, until they tried to cross a border. And then their lives changed forever.
She meets John Glendinning as he is frantically trying to connect with his brother Brian, who is calling from inside a prison in Baghdad. He had flown there for a new job, and was detained on an Red Notice issued by Qatar. Conditions in the prison are bad, and the signal is bad.
In other cases, Bill Browder explains the eight notices against him from Russia after he exposed a multi million dollar tax fraud within Putin’s government.
And Sahar speaks to Marek Zmyslowski, a Polish businessman who fell out with his business partner in Nigeria, and spent £250,000 to try to clear his name. He reflects on having to rebuild his life.
WARNING: This episode contains strong language.
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Presenter: Sahar Zand
Producers: Heidi Pett and Anne-Marie Bullock
Senior Producer: Sarah Burke
Sound Designer: James Bradshaw
Editor: Paul Stanworth
15 Jul 2023
Welcome to... Dirty Work
Sahar Zand presents Dirty Work - a podcast series from Sky News about what happens when Red Notices go wrong. We speak to the people who are caught in the gears of a global police information system, operated by Interpol, which enables police forces to flag their most wanted persons at international borders around the world. In some cases, those people are detained, imprisoned, and extradited, with devastating consequences.
In its centennial year, Interpol’s Secretary General tells us the organization is doing everything it can to protect innocent people from being targeted wrongly by police through Interpol. He argues that only a small percentage have to be cancelled. But regular people, dissidents and Interpol insiders explain how bad actors have been able - in some cases - to hijack the system to capture people beyond their borders.
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