Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and the rest of the Federal Coalition didn't do their homework on one asylum seeker

Sayed Abel Latif and his family sought asylum in Australia in May 2012.

The Australian stated on 3 June 2013:

It is understood Latif was one of 107 defendants in the "returnees from Albania" trial, held by an Egyptian military court in 1999.

So named because several of the defendants had been repatriated, or "rendered", from Albania, where they had allegedly been engaged in extremist activities, the case levelled an array of charges, including assassination of top political figures, involvement in the 1997 Luxor massacre and the bombing of banks and embassies….

[he was]  one of dozens convicted in absentia….

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said Latif denied all the charges against him and some of the evidence used to convict him had been obtained through torture.

Between 4-6 June 2013 Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and other members of the Coalition asked questions without notice in the House of Representatives using words to the effect that ‘A convicted Jihadist terrorist was kept for almost 12 months behind a pool fence’ while being held in an Australian detention centre’.

Seven days later ……..

Snapshot taken 8.20am 14 June 2013

http://www.interpol.int/Wanted-Persons/(wanted_id)/2001-43523

13 June 2013 - Media release

Egypt drops premeditated murder charge from Abdel Latif Red Notice

Statement by INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters, Lyon, France

On 13 June 2013, INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Cairo asked that the Red Notice previously issued at its request for Sayed Abdel Latif on 1 October 2001 be changed to remove any charges relating to premeditated murder, destruction of property, and possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives without a permit.

The remaining offences listed on the current valid Red Notice for Mr Abdel Latif are for membership of an illegally-formed extremist organization and forging travel documents for the organization’s members.

Egypt’s original 2001 Red Notice request stated that Mr Abdel Latif had been convicted and sentenced, in absentia, for premeditated murder, destruction of property, possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives without a permit, membership of a terrorist group and forgery of documents.

Based on the above, a Red Notice for Mr Abdel Latif was issued by INTERPOL's General Secretariat on 1 October 2001 for a variety of offences, including premeditated murder.

As required by INTERPOL’s rules on maintaining information in its databases, on 29 January 2007 and again on 24 October 2011, INTERPOL’s NCB Cairo requested that the Red Notice for Mr Abdel Latif remain valid and active for the same charges as originally requested.

Therefore, any law enforcement authority consulting INTERPOL'S databases between 1 October 2001 and 13 June 2013 would have read and believed that Mr Abdel  Latif was wanted for arrest by Egyptian authorities for a variety of terrorist-related offences, including premeditated murder.

Questions have recently been raised in relation to Mr Abdel Latif’s convictions as stated by Egyptian authorities in their original Red Notice application.

In following up on the matter with NCB Cairo, the NCB asked INTERPOL'S General Secretariat to remove the charge of premeditated murder and the other charges as outlined above.

INTERPOL immediately implemented NCB Cairo’s request and is advising all member countries accordingly.

All further enquiries on this case and on the underlying charges against Mr Abdel Latif should be directed to INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in Cairo and to the Egyptian authorities.

Red Notices are one of the ways in which INTERPOL informs its 190 member countries that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual by the competent authorities of a member country or by an international tribunal. It is not an international arrest warrant.

INTERPOL cannot insist that any member country arrest the subject of a Red Notice.

It seems all it took was for enquiries by The Guardian  and others, to be made of the Egyptian authorities and/or lawyers, for the truth began to emerge concerning this asylum seeker’s status.

Pity Tony Abbott and his cohorts didn’t make such enquiries.

UPDATE:

Interpol has now added this information to the Sayed Abel Latif  Red Notice - 
Charges: Membership in a terrorist group and providing forged travel documents

This description differs markedly from that contained in the Interpol media release which clearly stated: membership of an illegally-formed extremist organization and forging travel documents for the organization’s members.

A suspicious mind would have to consider the possibility that the higher echelons of the Australian Federal Police have applied some pressure to Interpol in order to rescue their somewhat tattered reputations in this matter.