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> after a Monsanto lawyer filed a records request with his university, the university barred him from campus Yesterday I was listening to a Podcast episode [0]

> after a Monsanto lawyer filed a records request with his university, the university barred him from campus Yesterday I was listening to a Podcast episode [0], "How Interpol Hunts Criminals - Who Benefits from the World Police?", which sadly is in German so I can only point to the written transcript [1]. It talked about how useful it is, but over half of the episode was criticizing it, how it is misused by autocrats and totalitarian regimes: > The United States and other democratic countries do not extradite politically persecuted persons. But that is not always the goal of a red notice, explains Professor Edward Lemon. For many dictators, it is enough to terrorize their dissidents living abroad: >> An Interpol wanted person request does not only mean that one can be arrested and extradited. In addition, it is very difficult to open a bank account, find a job or travel anywhere. In Istanbul, the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, with their large transit airports, there would be a high the likelihood of being arrested. Moreover, the government that obtained the warrant can undermine the reputation of the person in question: "This person is wanted by Interpol. It then has committed serious crimes." Yes, Interpol wanted persons are also a proven means of discrediting anti-corruption fighters and political opponents worldwide. > There is another Interpol tracing tool that dictators use to bully their opponents in exile: the Interpol database of stolen and lost identity documents. It's a tool that the Turkish government apparently likes to use: in 2019, the Nordic Research Monitoring Network published explosive documents from the Turkish intelligence service. According to these, Turkey had declared several hundred thousand passports stolen or lost after the 2016 coup attempt and uploaded the relevant information to the Interpol database. Lawyer Marko Stambuk, who looks after many Turks stranded in Serbia without passports, said: >> With this simple measure, the Turkish government harasses opposition members and critics worldwide. Without a passport, they have problems traveling and in everyday life; without a passport, they cannot apply for a residence permit. And when they check with their embassy, they are told to return to Turkey. Some have also asked authorities in Turkey what is going on with their passports. But they did not get an answer from there either. [0] https://www.swr.de/swr2/wissen/wie-interpol-verbrecher-jagt-wem-nutzt-die-weltpolizei-swr2-wissen-2023-02-20-100.html https://www.swr.de/swr2/wissen/wie-interpol-verbrecher-jagt-... [1] https://www.swr.de/swr2/wissen/230220-wie-interpol-verbrecher-jagd-100.pdf https://www.swr.de/swr2/wissen/230220-wie-interpol-verbreche... * translated by DeepL with manual corrections

WastingMyTime89 4y ago
I mean Interpol used to have a Chinese president, a country notorious for illegally kidnapping people in foreign countries, who suddenly vanished as he was forcefully called back to China to be prosecuted on bogus charges. He was then replaced by a general from the UAE, another paragon of enlightened values and democracy. I think it tells people all they need to know about it.
- qwertox 4y ago
  The podcast also talked about it: current president is Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi [0]. > Accused of presiding over torture, his candidacy was strongly condemned by human rights groups. A coalition of 19 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights, wrote an open letter to Interpol advising against his appointment. The ending words of the podcast are: > [...] With its so-called TRAP Act, the US Congress has obliged the Justice and State Departments to monitor Interpol more closely than before with regard to transnational repression. > However, that does not change the fundamental problem: namely, that the misuse of the Interpol search tools by dictatorships IS ultimately part of the structure of the organization. Which raises the fundamental question: Does a politically unlegitimized association of police authorities have the right to weigh up and decide between security and the freedoms of countless people? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Naser_Al-Raisi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Naser_Al-Raisi
- miguelazo 4y ago
  > a country notorious for illegally kidnapping people in foreign countries You could just as easily say this about the US. Just because we dress it up as “extraordinary rendition” makes no difference.

WastingMyTime89 4y ago

I mean Interpol used to have a Chinese president, a country notorious for illegally kidnapping people in foreign countries, who suddenly vanished as he was forcefully called back to China to be prosecuted on bogus charges. He was then replaced by a general from the UAE, another paragon of enlightened values and democracy. I think it tells people all they need to know about it.

qwertox 4y ago
The podcast also talked about it: current president is Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi [0]. > Accused of presiding over torture, his candidacy was strongly condemned by human rights groups. A coalition of 19 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights, wrote an open letter to Interpol advising against his appointment. The ending words of the podcast are: > [...] With its so-called TRAP Act, the US Congress has obliged the Justice and State Departments to monitor Interpol more closely than before with regard to transnational repression. > However, that does not change the fundamental problem: namely, that the misuse of the Interpol search tools by dictatorships IS ultimately part of the structure of the organization. Which raises the fundamental question: Does a politically unlegitimized association of police authorities have the right to weigh up and decide between security and the freedoms of countless people? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Naser_Al-Raisi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Naser_Al-Raisi
miguelazo 4y ago
> a country notorious for illegally kidnapping people in foreign countries You could just as easily say this about the US. Just because we dress it up as “extraordinary rendition” makes no difference.