The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has neither confirmed nor denied that is has received a Red Corner Notice for Zakir Naik who is under the Indian government’s radar for hate speech and inciting violence against Indians in general and Hindus in particular.
Interpol asked this reporter to send a request for information by mail this morning which was done. It was pointed out to them in that mail that the matter was urgent. This was followed by four telephone telephone calls which also went unanswered.
Naik is an Indian passport holder who is currently in Malaysia where too local groups are alarmed by his speeches have asked that he be sent be back to India post haste. At time of writing it remains unclear what the status of that dossier is between India and the Malaysian government (India has an extradition treaty with Malaysia), or whether overtures have been made by India at all.
Naik who claims he is a ‘preacher of peace’ appears to have been able to walk around laws ahead of any diplomatic moves to bring him back to India. Even more important is the absence of clarity on whether the Indian government has impounded Naik’s passport which will prevent him from fleeing to other friendly countries should Malaysia turn inimical to his presence on their territory. The lack of clarity is working against India for the moment.
The Red Notice track is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. It is issued by Interpol (based in Lyon, France) following a request from a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant. Such a notice is not an international arrest warrant says the international police organisation on its website. Such requests are not posted on the website if the requesting states does not want the information to become public. But from interactions today with Interpol - nil to be exact - it seems odd that the world police agency is unable to share any information with reporters.
With regard to your request in relation to this individual, we would advise you to contact the authorities in the countries where you believe there may be an investigation ongoing.- Interpol reply
According to Interpol, each country decides what legal value to give such a notice within its borders. Shorn or legalese, such notices or international requests for cooperation are alerts to police in member countries about crime-related information. For anything to move, among the first thing that has to happen is for India to call the shots including impounding Indian Naik’s passport and move the Interpol machinery.
Among the latest requests for assistance from Interpol are those that have come from the UK government following the series of terrorist attacks in London. In addition to countries, notices can used by the United Nations (UN), International Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court (ICT) to seek persons wanted for committing crimes within their jurisdiction, notably war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.