Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) engaged in a fierce quarrel in the legislature yesterday over the meaning of Interpol’s “red notice” for Dolkun Isa, secretary-general of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).
Kuan said the government misinterpreted Interpol’s warning and used outdated information in determining the WUC was a terrorist organization, citing a Central News Agency (CNA) report as evidence.
“I can’t believe you could sell your soul like this … How can you say black is white?” Kuan asked Jiang, who is considered by some to be a liberal.
Jiang said the government had made inquiries with Interpol via the country’s allies before publicizing information about the WUC, saying that the CNA story was based on false and second-hand information.
“Legislator Kuan, do you know the first sentence in the notice Interpol gave us? It says: ‘The person [Isa] is considered to be violent,’” Jiang said.
Jiang did not provide the notice from Interpol to back his claim.
The government rejected a planned visit by exiled WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer because of claims that Isa is a terrorist red-listed by Interpol and that the WUC has close links to two terrorist groups.
During Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) question-and-answer session with the legislature, Kuan asked the premier to explain what the government had learned from Interpol about the WUC.
Wu said he did not know the name of the WUC secretary-general and that he had no idea about the seven types of Interpol notice or what the red notice for Isa meant.
“It’s not necessary for me to know all the details … as I decide on strategy,” Wu said.
Interpol uses seven types of notice: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black and the Interpol-UN Security Council Special Notice.
Except for the green, orange and special notices, the other four do not represent a threat, Kuan said.
Kuan said CNA had published a report on Tuesday quoting Interpol as saying that it uses red notices as a way to spread information at the request of member countries and that it did not represent Interpol’s position on the matter.
The Government Information Office (GIO) asked CNA to remove the report, Kuan said, but GIO Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) denied that this was the case.
Kuan also said US documents that Jiang cited in calling the WUC a terrorist group were outdated, as Washington removed the WUC from its terrorist list in 2004.
Jiang said Kuan’s interpretation of Interpol’s notices was flawed, adding that “being red-listed by Interpol is a very serious matter.”
A “red notice” by Interpol means the group seeks the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition, Jiang said.
Jiang said that the CNA reporter did not contact Interpol’s spokesman for an explanation of its notices.
The WUC was listed as a terrorist group in the US Department of State and the US Congress’ official report in 2002, Jiang said, adding that every country revises its terrorist watch list by adding and removing individuals each year.
“As we don’t have our own terrorist watch list, we have to resort to information from international organizations and other countries,” Jiang said.
While the government has repeatedly said that it never referred to Kadeer as a terrorist, Kadeer said on Wednesday that she planned to sue the Taiwanese government over its terrorism claims.
Marie Yang (楊月清), spokeswoman for the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps spokeswoman, said yesterday she had spoken on the telephone with Kadeer on Thursday and that Kadeer said that she would write a letter authorizing the group to file a suit on her behalf in the next few days.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LEE HSIN-FANG
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