Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) has issued an urgent appeal to the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, urging it to halt the extradition of political dissidents traveling across Arab borders and to end the misuse of Interpol’s “red notices” as a tool of intimidation against individuals exercising their right to free expression.

The organization warns that these practices not only endanger the safety of exiled activists but also constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law.

At its 42nd annual conference on February 16, 2025, the Council—often referred to as the "Arab Interpol" and operating under the League of Arab States—reaffirmed its commitment to “strengthening joint Arab security action to ensure stability for Arab peoples.” While the Council’s mandate focuses on regional security cooperation and crime prevention, WJWC underscores a troubling contradiction: the meeting coincided with ongoing cross-border repression, including the unlawful extradition of political opponents. Such actions directly contravene the Council’s obligation to uphold legal and humanitarian standards.

Despite repeated calls from civil society organizations and United Nations (UN) bodies, the Council has failed to clarify the mechanisms behind "red notices", which are frequently exploited to target political activists and human rights defenders. There is an urgent need for greater transparency and safeguards to prevent the abuse of these mechanisms in support of authoritarian regimes that seek to silence dissenting voices.

The Council currently operates under a cross-border tracking system, which allows authorities to issue internal circulars that flag individuals at major ports and border crossings. While these tools are ostensibly intended to combat crime, they have increasingly been misused to pursue political opponents and activists, including those who have sought asylum in Western countries or who have faced politically motivated trials in absentia.

International legal frameworks explicitly prohibit the extradition of individuals for political crimes. This principle is enshrined in Arab and Islamic judicial cooperation agreements, the Arab Convention on Combating Terrorism, and the legal frameworks of the League of Arab States. Yet, despite these protections, interior ministers routinely override such safeguards without meaningful oversight. These actions also violate Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture, which clearly states:

“No State Party shall expel, return, or extradite a person to another State where there are serious grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”

The UN has raised concerns that red notices issued through international policing mechanisms often violate fundamental legal principles, including non-refoulement, due process, fair trial rights, and freedom of expression. WJWC echoes these concerns and urges the Council of Arab Interior Ministers to implement case-by-case risk assessments to prevent politically motivated extraditions and ensure compliance with international human rights standards.

Over the past three years, WJWC has documented a rise in transnational repression, including cross-border harassment and the misuse of regional security coordination under the Arab League to target political dissidents, journalists, and social media activists. These cases demonstrate a disturbing pattern of politically motivated extraditions and enforced disappearances.

Between 2022 and early 2025, WJWC recorded multiple cases of rendition and forced deportation, including:

• November 2022: Egyptian-American political commentator Sherif Osman was arrested after posting a YouTube video calling for a peaceful protest during the US President’s visit to Egypt for COP27. His arrest appeared to be a direct response to this video, placing him at risk of deportation to Egypt, where he could face torture. Following international pressure and his US citizenship status, he was released after nearly two months and allowed to return to the United States.
• January 14, 2023: Exiled Saudi dissident Hassan al-Rabee was arrested at Marrakesh airport after five months in Morocco. Following his first and only hearing on February 1, the Court of Cassation in Rabat approved his extradition to Saudi Arabia under the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (Articles 5 and 23), despite clear risks of torture. He was extradited on February 6.
• May 7, 2023: Emirati dissident Khalaf al-Rumaithi was arrested at Amman airport in Jordan at the request of Abu Dhabi. Although he was granted bail, he was detained again the next day by Jordanian intelligence officers and later handed over to UAE authorities. He was subsequently transferred to Abu Dhabi, where he faces a serious risk of torture.
• August 6, 2023: Bahrain extradited two residents to Egyptian authorities:
  • Mohammed Mahmoud al-Ajez, a 59-year-old Turkish citizen of Egyptian origin, and
  • Mohamed al-Iraqi Saad Hassanein, a 45-year-old Egyptian citizen.
    Both had legally resided in Bahrain for eight years and were sentenced in absentia in Egypt on politically motivated charges.
• November 2024: Saudi Arabia detained Ahmed Kamel, an Egyptian national who had lived in the kingdom for ten years. His arrest followed an extradition request from Egyptian authorities, citing politically motivated charges and a 25-year prison sentence issued in 2017 for his involvement in peaceful protests between 2011 and 2013. He now faces imminent deportation to Egypt, a country notorious for arbitrary detention and widespread torture of political prisoners.
• January 2025:
  • Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, a Turkish-Egyptian poet and prominent Arab Spring activist, was extradited from Lebanon to the UAE after an Arab Interior Ministers' Council warrant was issued against him. His arrest followed a critical video in which he condemned Egyptian and Emirati authorities while visiting Damascus. Since his forcible transfer to Abu Dhabi, his whereabouts remain unknown.
  • Salman al-Khalidi, a Kuwaiti activist and government critic, was extradited from Iraq to Kuwait under another Arab Interior Ministers' Council warrant. He had previously been stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in retaliation for his social media activism and participation in peaceful protests abroad.

Women Journalists Without Chains urges the Council of Arab Interior Ministers to immediately halt the extradition of political dissidents and to adopt transparent guidelines ensuring that extradition requests comply with international legal standards. The misuse of regional security mechanisms to suppress free expression must end, and safeguards must be put in place to protect activists from persecution, unlawful detention, and torture.

The ongoing use of transnational repression tactics threatens fundamental human rights and democratic principles across the region. The Council of Arab Interior Ministers must take urgent action to ensure its security policies align with international human rights obligations, rather than serving as a tool for political persecution.