On 30 January 2025, Saudi Arabia and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) announced an agreement to open a regional office in Saudi Arabia to support law enforcement efforts across the Middle East and North Africa. This included plans for the new office to cooperate with regional structures such as the Arab Interiors Ministers’ Council (AIMC). While framed as a step toward regional security, this decision raises grave concerns about human rights in a region where Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and institutions like AIMC follow flawed legal frameworks that repress freedom of expression, extradite dissidents, and impose lengthy prison terms that risk inhumane treatment. In such an environment, establishing an INTERPOL office risks politicizing law enforcement activities and facilitating the misuse of the organization’s resources for repression.
INTERPOL, as the world’s largest international policing body, facilitates cross-border collaboration among 196 member states by sharing and providing access to data on crimes and criminals. However, despite its potential for security, INTERPOL has long faced criticism for enabling human rights abuses through its mechanisms, particularly Red Notices and diffusions. These concerns have intensified under the leadership of its current president, Emirati General Ahmed Naser Al Raisi, who faces allegations of overseeing torture and political repression in the UAE. His election, along with growing financial contributions from Gulf states, has heightened fears over INTERPOL’s vulnerability to political influence.
INTERPOL’s Red Notices and diffusions were designed to help locate and apprehend serious criminals. Red Notices are formal alerts issued by a country’s National Central Bureau (NCB) to facilitate the arrest or restriction of a wanted individual’s movement, leading to their eventual extradition to the requesting country. Diffusions are less formal alerts circulated directly among NCBs without oversight by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat, making them easier to abuse. Both systems face due process violations by GCC states, which often refrain from disclosing information regarding Red Notice requests, leaving individuals unaware until they are detained abroad. Diffusions are even more secretive; individuals may never learn they are listed unless they face detention, making it nearly impossible to challenge their cases. Investigations by Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) uncovered secret files on individuals, many of which were easily deleted once contested, suggesting they lacked a substantial legal basis. Despite this, engagement with INTERPOL was described as cumbersome and slow, prolonging uncertainty for those affected.
Concrete cases illustrate the severe repercussions of abusing INTERPOL’s instruments. In 2021, Saudi-Australian dual national Osama al-Hasani was detained in Morocco under a Saudi-issued Red Notice and extradited to Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that his charges, relating to a car theft, had already been cleared. Similarly, Bahraini political dissident Ahmed Jaffer Muhammad was extradited from Serbia to Bahrain in 2022 based on a Red Notice, to serve a life sentence issued in his absence, despite the risk of torture he had previously endured at the hands of Bahraini authorities. These cases highlight how INTERPOL’s systems are increasingly weaponized to facilitate political persecution and violate the principle of non-refoulement under international human rights law.
The decision to establish an INTERPOL office in Saudi Arabia underscores how international policing mechanisms risk being co-opted to serve authoritarian interests, rather than global security and justice. Without substantial reforms to strengthen transparency, human rights protections, and oversight, INTERPOL’s expansion in the Gulf could further enable transnational repression, undermining the organization’s credibility and contributing to the erosion of international human rights norms.
