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| Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, France [FILE PHOTO] [Credit: Massimiliano Mariani] |
Lyon: INTERPOL confirms that its Red Notice, or international wanted persons alert, issued for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Sweden’s request in November 2010 remains valid.
Confirmation that Assange’s Red Notice status remains in force follows Thursday’s decision by authorities in Ecuador to grant asylum to Assange, two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK to Sweden where authorities want to question him in connection with alleged sexual offences.
A Red Notice status is a request for any country to identify or locate an individual with a view to their provisional arrest and extradition in accordance with the country’s national laws.
Many of INTERPOL's member countries consider a Red Notice a valid request for provisional arrest, especially if they are linked to the requesting country via a bilateral extradition treaty. In cases where arrests are made based on a Red Notice, these are made by national police officials in INTERPOL member countries.
INTERPOL cannot compel any of its 190 member countries to arrest the subject of a Red Notice. Any individual wanted for arrest should be considered innocent until proven guilty.