The international police agency INTERPOL has issued a “Red Notice” for the notorious Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim (aka Wagdi Ghoneim Wagdi Ghuniem). According to the notice, the Egyptian charges against Ghoneim are as follows:
Participating with others in crimes of violence and murder; unlawful detention and torture, use of physical force; possessing and obtaining weapons and ammunition without a license. (translated from Arabic)
An INTERPOL Red Notice is the highest level of alert and is defined on the agency’s website as follows:
Notices are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information.Notices are published by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat at the request of National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and authorized entities, and can be published in any of the Organization’s official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.In the case of Red Notices, the persons concerned are wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant or court decision. INTERPOL’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying and locating these persons with a view to their arrest and extradition or similar lawful action. In addition, Notices are used by the United Nations, International Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court to seek persons wanted for committing crimes within their jurisdiction, notably genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Many but not all countries, treat Red Notices as provisional arrest warrants with the UK being a notable example which does not treat them as such. It is highly likely that the INTERPOL action was disseminated by Egypt by means of the agency’s “I-Link” system, an instantaneous means for distributing alerts and described by INTERPOL as follows:
All international alerts for wanted persons – either in the form of an INTERPOL Red Notice or Diffusions – are now submitted through I-link. In a matter of seconds, member countries can draft and submit an alert seeking the arrest of a wanted criminal, with the information recorded instantly into the Organization’s central database and immediately accessible to police around the world.
However, it should be noted that Red Notices issued in this manner are only temporary and are subject to review, part of which will undoubtably consist of a determination as to whether or not the charges against Ghoneim are politically based.
Wagdy Ghoneim is an Egyptian cleric closely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and known for his anti-Semitic speeches. In January 2005, Mr. Ghoneim agreed to be voluntarily deported from the US based upon Department of Homeland Security concerns that his past speeches and participation in fund-raising activities could be supportive of terrorist organizations. The GMBDW reported last month that Ghoneim had described Tunisian secularists as “the filthiest and most stinking secularists I’ve ever seen.” The GMBDW reported in September that Ghoneim and two other leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had arrived in Istanbul following their departure from Qatar. The GMBDW also reported at that time that Ghoneim, known for his long history of extremist statements, had posted a video on his YouTube channel in which he call Western action against ISIS “a Crusader war” and called the late Osama Bin Laden the “martyred heroic mujahid, Bin Laden.”
The GMBDW was also the first Western media to report yesterday on the INTERPOL Red Notice issued for Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi.
For a profile on Wagdy Ghoneim, go here.
