RPK unlikely to be extradited from UK
(The Malay Mail) – Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin is unlikely to be extradited from the United Kingdom as he is not considered a hard-core criminal but someone being persecuted for his political beliefs.
Sources told The Malay Mail that Home Ministry officials held several discussions with British High Commission officials in Kuala Lumpur concerning the possible extradition of Raja Petra. However, no formal application has been made.
They concluded any application would fail as Raja Petra was viewed as a “political fugitive” in the UK.
It is learnt that because of this, Interpol refused to issue an international “Red Notice” to arrest Raja Petra, who was detained twice under the Internal Security Act. It is believed the police, in its request for the Red Notice, said Raja Petra was being sought for defamation and sedition cases.
According to an Interpol website, a Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant. Instead, persons concerned are described as those wanted by national jurisdictions (or the International Criminal Tribunal, where appropriate) and Interpol’s role is to assist national police forces in identifying or locating those persons but not necessarily arrest or extradite them.
In an email to The Paper That Cares, the Interpol Press Office stated “the Red Notices are only issued to Interpol member countries if the requesting National Central Bureau (NCB) has provided all the information required by the General Secretariat, including details of a valid arrest warrant for the country in question.
“According to Article 3 of Interpol’s constitution, it is ‘strictly forbidden for the organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character’. This prohibition is taken extremely seriously by Interpol. Any member country may challenge the validity of a Red Notice if they believe it contravenes Article 3. The person who is the subject of a Red Notice may also challenge it.”
Yesterday, an English daily quoted Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan as saying police had, since last year, made a formal request to Interpol to issue an international Red Notice alert for Raja Petra’s arrest.
“Our request was turned down in January. We cannot go into another country and arrest a wanted person,’’ he said, adding there were two arrest warrants issued locally against Raja Petra.
