Radha Stirling , Interpol expert and head human rights group Detained in Dubai , said the election was a 'near fatal blow to Interpol's credibility'. She added : 'It is outrageous that an institution originally founded to uphold justice and due pro cess has chosen as its president a man implicated in serious crimes from a country that is renowned for exploiting Interpol's role as a means to extort and intimate innocent people . 'She said the UAE had been using Interpol's ' re

Philip Wood, QC - The Times "The relentless energy of the campaigners at Detained in Dubai continues to amaze as they take on one case of alleged abuse and miscarriage of justice after another. The organisation’s attention is now also engaged in countering the misuse of the Interpol notice system, including allegedly by banks such as HSBC Bank Middle East. Radha Stirling, the group’s chief executive, seems fairly blasé about the risks involved challenging powerful state bodie

The Scot is now celebrating after Middle Eastern prosecutors dropped drug charges following a campaign backed by influential lawyer Radha Stirling and Kenny MacAskill MSP (Minister for Justice). Radha Stirling said the upcoming World Cup in the country forced prosecutors to drop charges in what would have been a 'potential PR nightmare for the state'. She said: "Qatar would not have wished for Conor to be arrested again in another country. "Such an arrest would have raised to

Government to announce crackdown on foreign criminals as part of hardline new measures included in Queen’s Speech It was announced today that the UK will implement a new policy regarding the arrest of individuals listed on the Interpol database with a Red Notice. In the proposed measure, police will be empowered to arrest anyone whose name is listed without first obtaining a domestic arrest warrant by a British magistrate. Expert Witness Radha Stirling, who has led calls for

Last month, Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum viewed a number of infrastructure projects for the emirate worth Dh6.5 billion; Dubai also recently announced plans to expand the DIFC complex; Dubai Expo 2020 is set for October this year, representing potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts; and it seems that investment projects in the UAE are in a continuous state of acceleration. Potential investors are encouraged, seduced even, by headlines li

Detention of Bahraini/Australian resident and pro footballer in Thailand highlights Gulf state Interpol abuse and international cooperation issues. Australia needs to pressure Interpol to withdraw the politically motivated red notice, Thailand to decline extradition and Bahrain to withdraw their extradition request. FIFA has also been a strong financial supporter of Interpol and should use their own channels to pressure for the removal of the red notice against their fellow

British father of 3 Steven Williams from Wales, is stuck in Mallorca, Spain pending extradition proceedings to Qatar over an outstanding debt, despite having made consistent monthly payments. If Steven is sent to Qatar, he could face decades in prison. Like the UAE, Qatar has been increasingly misusing Interpol as an instrument for debt collection, though the international policing organisation has no remit to intervene in private civil disputes. Radha Stirling, a leading exp

- leading to arrest of expat customer now facing extradition proceedings in Europe. Dubai bank, during customer lead active negotiations, secretly raised an #INTERPOL Red Notice against him for a bounced cheque, resulting in his subsequent arrest in Europe. Now fighting an extradition request from the United Arab Emirates, the customer’s position to negotiate is prejudiced, after having to divert his available funds to his legal defence team in what is a very serious trial. O

The latest figures quoted by Radha Stirling of Detained in Dubai reveal a shocking trend in sudden arrests, false detentions and a rise in mafia style agencies working as debt collectors for UAE banks. Since the UAE began misusing Interpol as an instrument for enforcing commercial agreements, British, American, and European Nationals are increasingly finding themselves being treated like international fugitives in their own countries. These arrests, detentions and accusations

UAE banks still demand blank cheques as security for credit. They can fill out the amount themselves and cash the cheque whenever they see fit, regardless of whether their client is still using the account. It is therefore strongly advised to close down all bank, credit and utility bills officially before leaving The UAE and insist on the return of these cheques, as there is no effective legislation preventing abuse of this outdated system. Clients who have not officially cl

The UAE government is continuing to misuse Interpol as an instrument for debt collection, despite recent reports that they had ceased to do so. Debt issues, unless they involve instances of deliberate fraud, do not generally fall within Interpol's mandate, and the Emirates has been strongly criticised in the past for irresponsibly reporting debtors to the international policing agency in violation of protocol. "We just received confirmation from a new client that he was put o

Covers whether people with UAE debt can be reported to Interpol, why Interpol accepts ridiculous reports, what can be done to prevent an Interpol listing, how to remove a red notice, whether it is safe to travel while on Interpol and why there may still be travel issues even after a notice is removed. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. #interpol #interpolrednotice #extradition #debtenforcement #uaepolice #dubaipolice

The drop in oil prices has negatively affected the economy of the United Arab Emirates significantly. Companies are freezing salaries, laying off workers, and even going bankrupt. Many expats are choosing to leave the UAE for better opportunities at home; sometimes leaving behind unpaid bills and outstanding debts. Due to the continuing economic slump, over the last quarter we have seen the UAE intensify its pursuit of financial cases through increasingly aggressive tactics

British National and Oaktree Capital Group Executive Martin Graham, has been convicted in absentia in a Sharjah Court of stealing $264 million dollars from an engineering contractor. Graham has since been arrested in the UK after an Interpol notice was issued. He appeared last week in Westminster Magistrates Court and has been provisionally released pending further proceedings. Oaktree fully supports Martin Graham and expects that the conviction will eventually be overturne

Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest bank, is one of a number of local UAE lenders who have hired British and American debt collection agencies to chase expatriate defaulters who have absconded back to their home countries without settling their loan repayments. “In response to a growing number of fleeing debtors, banks such as Emirates NBD, ADCB [Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank] and others have been increasing their recovery efforts by employing international debt collectors and enforcer

Detained in Dubai Updates for October / November 2015 October and November have been unusually busy this year. This is partially we expect, the result of increased security levels in the UAE as well as economic uncertainty, leading to aggressive and gung-ho tactics from banks or privately originating disputes. There has been an increase in Security measures in the UAE, random stop and searches and active arrests of people listed on police databases. Temporary jails have bee

We call on Shayne Nelson and other CEO's to stop using Interpol as a negotiation tactic to recover debts. While debt is treated criminally in the UAE, it is not a reportable crime to Interpol. Manipulating the case to make it appear as fraud for the purposes of an Interpol report is a gross abuse of the Interpol organisation. Most people who have defaulted on their loans and mortgages experienced unpredictable circumstances such as loss of employment, illness, loss of busin

"I had a house under mortgage in the Marina in Dubai and couldn't make the repayments anymore after the crisis. I left and found a job in Europe and a year later, resolved payment with the bank. A couple of years later, I decided to make sure that there were no cases against me so did a police check. I was horrified that the bank had neglected to close their bounced cheque cases. I hate to think how long it would have taken to sort out had I gone back without checking. I cont