Arab League arrest warrants facilitating repression, rights groups warn

More than a dozen civil society organizations have recently jointly called for security agencies led by the Arab League to stop assisting in the extradition of dissidents and human rights defenders in the region. These organizations believe that the current mechanism is being used by some Arab countries to pursue relevant individuals for political reasons.

These organizations, led by the Geneva-based MENA Rights Group, pointed out in an open letter that the Arab Interior Ministers Council (AIMC) must "consult with civil society and carry out urgent reforms to bring its legal framework and system into line with international human rights law." The letter was released as the AIMC concluded its 42nd annual meeting in Tunisia, and the organizations stated that transnational repression is on the rise.

It is alleged that in the past four months, there has been a significant increase in cases of extradition or attempted extradition of individuals deemed wanted by Arab countries for political reasons using arrest warrants issued by the AIMC. These cases include the extradition of Egyptian-Turkish poet and activist Abdul Rahman Yousef al-Qaradawi from Lebanon to the UAE in January for a three-minute video posted on X, and the extradition of Kuwaiti activist and founder of the UK-based Kuwaiti Refugee Association, Salman al-Khalidi, from Iraq to Kuwait in the same month after he posted a video on social media questioning the legitimacy of Kuwait's current rulers.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Egyptian national Ahmed Kamel has been detained since last November. He participated in non-violent anti-government protests in Egypt in 2011 and 2014 and is now at risk of being extradited back to Egypt. "No one knows what's going to happen, or at least they haven't told us what's going to happen," his wife, Sherryne Grace Badaoui, told Middle East Eye. "It's so surreal that people can just take your loved one out of your life for no reason."

According to the 15 signatories of the letter released this week, the AIMC's legal framework explicitly prohibits extradition for "offenses of a political nature," but in reality, this is still happening. "Due to the lack of oversight bodies to prevent abuse of its system, the AIMC has become the perfect tool for Arab League countries to request politically motivated extraditions," they said. The AIMC did not respond to Middle East Eye's request for comment this week regarding concerns about its lack of oversight and the use of issued arrest warrants to pursue individuals for political reasons.