Interpol has said it had nothing to do with the extradition of Hamza Kashgari, but Dennis McShane MP apparently didn’t get the memo – or got the memo and didn’t believe it.
The charge of apostasy was maintained, his home was attacked and, again, sensibly enough, Kashgari decided it was time to leave Saudi Arabia. The response of the Saudis was to approach Interpol and ask them to issue an international search and arrest warrant.
Interpol is meant to be tackle serious crime, not act as the little helper for régimes that want to kill journalists.
Maryam too finds the memo not entirely convincing:
If it says so – though I am skeptical especially since its has done this before.
In 2009, a number of us wrote to its office complaining about Iranian opposition leaders being included on its wanted list at the request of the Islamic regime of Iran!
McShane has suggestions:
Pressure is important. This time last year the Egyptian military police arrested an Egyptian blogger. Maikel Nabil. He was jubilant about the fall of Mubarak but as he saw the increasing role of the military he criticised the soldiers. A military tribunal sentenced him to three years in prison but an effective international campaign got under way and on Saturday I got a letter from the Egyptian ambassador announcing that Nabil has been freed and pardoned.
So once again it is time to write to the Saudi Ambassador, and to William Hague so that our Ambassador in Riyadh can make protest. The Commonwealth Secretary General should get involved to as it is to Malaysia’s shame that they send this harmless young man to the possibility of a dusty public square and the executioner’s sword. The Home Secretary too should ask why Interpol is acting as an agent for the most blood-thirsty and cruel of régimes. Might Twitter pay for his legal defence. And when of our Royals takes tea with one of their Royals perhaps a few whispered words might be muttered about why in the 21st century Royals — Muslim, Christian, whatever — should not chop off heads because of a tweet.
Apparently Interpol considers blasphemy a serious crime.
To quote “Phillip IV” in a Maryam Namazie thread:
It’s unlikely that Intepol had anything to do with Mr. Kashgari’s extradition back to Saudi Arabia, as they would not have promulgated a warrant for “blasphemy,” and even if they had it would not have bound Malaysia to respond to it the way they did.
But there is poor cleric in Saudi Arabia weeping because Kashgari’s words were hurtful. All he is asking from the King is death for the blasphemer.
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/death-for-tweeting-the-insanity-of-islam-a-guest-post/
‘Phillip IV’ from Maryam’s thread (via Alecthar @ # 2):
“Interpol is keenly aware of the issue of being instrumentalized by oppressive regimes. They have four SS Generals in the list of their former presidents, and they are not proud of it.”
The four SS generals should have spent the rest of their days following WW2 counting the cockroaches in some dungeon. Not presiding over Interpol, for Christ’s sake.
So once again it is time to write to the Saudi Ambassador, and to William Hague so that our Ambassador in Riyadh can make protest.
The UK will never raise this issue with the Saudis. Saw a photo of Cameron and the King of S.A. the other day. Cameron was in town to sell the Saudis some very expensive british-made military hardware.
I think we all know how those things work.
@ Ian MacDougall (#4):
The 4 SS Generals were all presidents during WWII, presumably the headquarters of Interpol was in Nazi occupied territory, and thus the appointments don’t reflect post-war Nazi sympathies. From the founding of Interpol until the end of the war, it’s Secretary General was Austrian, as were its first presidents. Leadership of the organization was seized by Nazi Germany during the Anschluss.
All but one of those presidents were dead by the end of the war, and the surviving one was executed as part of the Nuremberg Trials.
All of this information is readily available via Wikipedia.