O'Connor counsels caution on AFP red notices/ Federal Police fuck up
Australian authorities know to be careful with Interpol red notices, such as the one on alleged jihadist asylum seeker Sayed Abdellatif, says Immigration minister Brendan O'Connor.- Autoplay OnOff
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Speaking to Fairfax Media's Breaking Politics program on Monday, Mr O'Connor said Interpol red notices were often wrong - an effective swipe at the AFP, which had cited a red notice in declaring that Mr Abdellatif had been convicted of serious terrorism charges including murder and explosives possession.
Mr O'Connor said Labor had been warning all along against "rushing to judgment" about Mr Abdellatif, an Egyptian asylum seeker who sparked a political storm last month after it emerged he had been kept in low-security detention despite the Interpol red notice.
"There are many, many states that are signed up to Interpol and they've made many errors in the past," he said.
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"The Australian Federal Police takes them very seriously but
knows it must examine the veracity or otherwise of those claims because
quite often claims, even against Australian citizens who've had red
notices out against them, have been found to be wrong."Interpol conceded on Friday that its red notice on Mr Abdellatif was inaccurate in including convictions for "premeditated murder, destruction of property and possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives without a permit".
It now says Mr Abdellatif was accused of the lesser charges of joining an illegally formed extremist organisation and forging travel documents. His Egyptian lawyer continues to deny those charges.
Mr O'Connor's remarks clearly put him at odds with AFP deputy commissioner Peter Drennan, who told the ABC last week that he'd never come across an incorrect red notice in the past.
"Law enforcement agencies around the world rely heavily on the Interpol red notices, and put in good faith the accuracy and content of them," he said.
Asked by the ABC whether he'd encountered an inaccurate notice before, he replied, "Not in my experience".
The retraction by Interpol also left the Coalition stranded on the issue. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and senior shadow ministers had repeatedly referred to Mr Abdellatif as a "convicted jihadist terrorist".
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