Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers confirms that Mr. Joseph Assad, former human rights Officer at Freedom House, and one of the world’s leading authorities on government interventions in the counter-terrorism and security sectors, previously targeted by the autocratic and manipulative Government of the Republic of Montenegro, can now travel freely, the INTERPOL Red Notice issued at the request of the Government of Montenegro, having been withdrawn by INTERPOL on the basis that the request issue was politically motivated.
Mr. Joseph Assad is a U.S. National, former counterterrorism officer in the United States Government and human rights and religious freedom activist who was previously instrumental in securing the release of more than one hundred Iraqi Christian refugees from ISIS in 2015.
Joseph was employed as a security expert to another client of Guernica 37, British-Israeli political strategist, Mr. Aron Shaviv, who was also subject to an INTERPOL Red Notice which has also now been withdrawn by INTERPOL.
The Government of the Republic of Montenegro made spurious, unfounded and entirely unsubstantiated allegations that Mr. Assad was involved in an attempted coup d’état in 2016, culminating in their request of INTERPOL to issue a ‘Red Notice’. It is notable that the international legal and human rights and intelligence communities have rightly questioned the legitimacy and credibility of the existence of an attempted coup citing concerns that it was used to divert attention away from a failed administration facing serious allegations of corruption.
Mr. Assad rejected all such allegations from the outset, and the actions of the Government of the Republic of Montenegro were yet another example of the work undertaken by INTERPOL being manipulated to enable a State to circumvent an appropriate legal process in which appropriate guarantees regarding fairness and due process ought to be guaranteed.
This manipulation being substantiated by the fact that INTERPOL, upon receiving submissions from Mr. Assad’s legal team, withdrew the warrant, and deleted all traces within the Interpol system.
Mr. Assad is one of the world’s leading authorities on government interventions in the counterterrorism and security sectors. To date, he has lived in seven countries in the Near East region and travelled to more than 55 others.
After a decade of government service, he went on to serve as an international security consultant focused on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. In addition, Joseph is a public speaker, trainer, and human rights advocate. In 2015, Joseph spearheaded an effort to identify a safe-haven for Iraqi Christians displaced by ISIS from their ancestral homelands in northern Iraq. On 10 December 2015, the internally displaced persons who had been living for two years in a camp in Ankawa were evacuated from Erbil to their new homes in Europe. This project was featured by ABC’s 20/20.
Mr. Assad holds a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution and Analysis from George Mason University in Virginia, and a Political Science and Biblical Studies degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida.
The reality of the situation therefore, is that Mr. Assad was accused of an offence and yet no evidence has been disclosed to attempt to substantiate the allegations.
In removing the Red Notice on the basis of its clear and flagrant political motivation, INTERPOL have shown themselves to refuse to tolerate attempts to manipulate the system by those Governments who seek to circumvent the fair trial and due process rights of individuals.
It is notable that the decision by INTERPOL, which follows decisions suspending Red Notice warrants against Dr. Duško Knežević and Mr. Aron Shaviv is a further evidence to demonstrate that the Balkan State has abandoned the rule of law and can no longer call itself a democratic state. Freedom House recently noted that Montenegro was no longer in the category of democracies and in its May 2020 report highlighted that the Balkan nation had registered negatively in categories related to judicial independence media freedoms and corruption.
