No response from Cleverly leaves Glendinning family arranging protest at Scottish parliament this week
Scottish construction engineer Brian Glendinning has been detained in Iraq for almost two months because of a small Qatar National Bank (QNB) debt. Despite Brian repaying the loan and being in contact with the bank, QNB decided they had every right to report him to Interpol. Interpol accepted the Notice, placing ‘trust’ in member states to act responsibly.
“Interpol will delete the Notice once I have appealed but the process takes months and does not help Brian in his current predicament. QNB should never have been able to list Brian in the first place but the damage is done”, said Interpol & extradition crisis consultant Radha Stirling, founder of IPEX Reform.
“It is appalling that a British citizen has been detained in Iraq and our Scottish MP, Mr Douglas Chapman has received no response to his communications to James Cleverly, our Foreign Minister. Cleverly should be using every diplomatic effort available with Qatari and Iraqi counterparts to end this circus, but he has not even responded to basic communication. It is no wonder that the Glendinnings and supporting Scottish MP’s are encouraging a demonstration in front of Parliament calling for action. They have noted that other Scots detained abroad have received no help either (Conor Howard, Billy Barclay, Jamie Harron)”.
Brian’s wife Kimberly has called for Nicola Sturgeon to pressure British diplomats to act. “When Liz Truss was Foreign Secretary, she couldn’t remember the names of British citizens detained abroad who had come to her asking to be saved from torture (Albert Douglas) and it’s important James Clevery, MP understands his role is to support British nationals, including Scots, who are unfairly facing legal or physical abuse abroad.
“I have reached out to contacts at the bank and provided them with authorisation to represent Brian. We are preparing correspondence to QNB’s London investment arm who we hope will do everything they can to avoid being publicly hauled through the British justice system and made accountable for the consequences of using Interpol as a debt enforcement agent”.