WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration is petitioning Interpol to deny Egypt's request for the arrest of American and other non-governmental workers accused of illegally operating democracy programmes and stirring unrest, in a push to prevent further escalation of the planned prosecution that sparked the worst crisis in US-Egypt relations in three decades. According to people familiar with the case, State Department Counsel Harold Koh and Justice Department Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz are trying to convince Interpol to deny Egypt's request for worldwide notices seeking the arrest of some personnel from several nongovernmental organisations that receive US funding. Cairo's continued plans to prosecute the NGO workers is a sharp rebuke to the US, which has been pressing Egypt to drop the criminal charges against 43 non-governmental workers - 17 of them Americans - from the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, Freedom House, and International Centre for Journalists. Tensions between Washington and Cairo eased on March 1 when seven American democracy workers were allowed to leave Egypt after their institutions paid some $5 million in “bail” to lift the travel ban against them. These Americans - including IRI's Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood - still face charges in a trial slated to resume on Tuesday, but are not currently wanted for arrest in Egypt. Shortly after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed off on military aid to Cairo, Egypt asked Interpol to issue so-called red notices for other non-governmental workers who were not in Egypt at the time, or in some cases, who never worked there at all. As many as 10 of them are Americans. Among them are prominent figures in Washington, like Freedom House's Charles Dunne, a former US diplomat who also served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush. If convicted, they could face a hefty financial penalty and up to five years in an Egyptian prison. The State and Justice Departments, as well as Interpol headquarters in France and its bureau in Washington, all declined to comment on Egypt's request for the red notices, which are usually viewed as precursors to filing extradition papers. “The United States is making known in every relevant forum, and before every relevant agency, its objection to these politically motivated trials in Egypt,” State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez told the Washington-based National Journal. The US, unlike many of the 190 countries participating in the international police organisation, is not obligated to arrest anyone on its soil subject to a red notice because it does not view this as “probable cause” for an arrest warrant, according to Douglas McNabb, a Washington-based international criminal lawyer. Individuals wanted under red notices can appeal Interpol's decision in a process that can take months or even years, said McNabb, who specialises in Interpol notice removal and international extradition.
