Detention of Iranians revealed problems in international arrest warrant system

Finnish police command to re-examine Interpol system

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The Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior is looking into whether or not there are serious shortcomings in the arrest warrant system of the international police organisation Interpol.
      Kari Rantama, head of the department’s international unit says that the reason for the move is an incident a week ago Sunday, when two Iranian men were stopped at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and detained for three days on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Iran.
     The men came to Finland to prepare for NGO activities linked with last week's Ministerial Council meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Iran says that the two are terrorists.
     Representatives of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) have criticised the Finnish authorities for their handling of the case, saying that it is the first time that a Western democracy has prevented the free movement of representatives of the Iranian opposition.
     “We thought that Finland would follow the line of other countries”, said Perviz S. Khazai, a representative of the organisation, in Helsinki on Friday.
      Muhammad Ali Jabrazadeh, one of the two men directly affected by the action, said at the press conference that he had spent seven years in prison in Iran for political reasons, after which he went into exile in France, where he has lived for 27 years.
     
Jabrazadeh said that during this time he has travelled around the world, and even visited Finland last year; this is the first time that he has had problems with border authorities.
     “I was very surprised at the situation. I hope that the matter will be cleared up as soon as possible.
     Rantama says that the Interior Ministry is checking to see if NCRI’s claims are true. Requests for information have been sent to several countries. If the information checks out, Rantama feels that it is an indication that there are some problems in the system.
     “If an international system of warrants is created, then in principle, it does not work, unless approximately the same rules are applied everywhere. Or ... if a person is granted exile, or something similar in a country, how does it register in this Interpol system, for instance?”
     
NCRI has criticised the Interpol system, saying that dictatorships put individuals on the list for purely political reasons, in violation of the rules of Interpol.
     Rantama does not feel that it is impossible for something like this to happen, and if it does, there is a new problem.
     “If the Ministry of Justice comes to this conclusion, then what is the conclusion to be drawn in Finland? How can we instruct our officials that a particular warrant is not valid in Finland?”
     Rantama said that it is possible that Finnish officials might start going through Interpol’s warrants based on information submitted by certain countries, to see if political motives are involved in any of them.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Law professor: Constitution should prevent extradition to Iran (5.12.2008)
  Iran demands extradition of “terrorists” (4.12.2008)

Links:
  National Council of Resistance of Iran

Helsingin Sanomat