SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS RELATING TO EXTRADITION STIPULATE THAT REQUESTS FOR PROVISIONAL ARRESTS CAN BE SENT THROUGH INTERPOL CHANNELS

Article 16(3) of the European Convention on Extradition, which was adopted in 1957 under the auspices of the Council of Europe and came into force on 18th April 1960, states that: “A request for provisional arrest shall be sent to the competent authorities of the requested Party either through the diplomatic channel or direct by post or telegraph or through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) or by any other means affording evidence in writing or accepted by the requested Party. The requesting authority shall be informed without delay of the result of its request.” Article 22(3) of the Convention on Extradition adopted by the members of ECOWAS states that a request for provisional arrest shall be sent either through diplomatic channels or direct by post or telegraph or through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), or by any other means affording evidence in writing or accepted by the requested Party.

Article 4(1) of the Commonwealth Scheme for the Rendition of Fugitive Offenders (adopted in 1966), which deals with requests for provisional arrest, states: “Where a fugitive offender is, or is suspected of being, in or on his way to any part of the Commonwealth but no warrant has been endorsed as mentioned in clause 3(1)(a) or issued as mentioned on clause 3(1)(b), the competent judicial authority in that part of the Commonwealth may issue a provisional warrant for his arrest on such information and under such circumstances as would, in the authorities opinion, justify the issue of a warrant if the returnable offence of which the fugitive is accused had been an offence committed within the authority’s jurisdiction and for the purposes of this paragraph information contained in an international notice issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in respect of a fugitive may be considered by the authority, either alone or with other information, in deciding whether a provisional warrant should be issued for the arrest of that fugitive.”

It should be pointed out that there are other regional conventions containing provisions relating to extradition but that they do not make specific mention of Interpol’s role in forwarding requests for provisional arrest. These include the Inter-American Convention on Extradition, the Arab Convention on Mutual assistance in Legal Matters.