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Keeping the red notice on file “would have significant adverse implications for the neutrality of the organization,” said the commission’s decision, a copy of which was obtained by the National Post. “There is a significant potential … of the organization being perceived as facilitating politically motivated activities.”

“There is a predominant political dimension to this case,” it added.

Xie alleges Beijing has used various pressure tactics against him, including jailing his son and sister on trumped-up charges and torturing the chief witness in his prosecution into confessing.

He now works as an Uber driver in Toronto’s Scarborough neighbourhood, Jonathan Fon, Xie’s immigration paralegal, said Friday.

His application for permanent resident status here, based on marriage to a Canadian woman, was initially rejected because of the red notice, but is now being reassessed, said Fon.

Decisions such as the one issued by the commission earlier this month in Lyon, France, are still not frequent, but are becoming more common as human-rights groups and others fight unjust red notices, said Stuart Friedman, Xie’s Southfield, Mich., lawyer.

There is a predominant political dimension to this case

“Most arrest warrants are legitimate, but the minority that are not can have a really, really chilling effect on human rights, and they need to be addressed,” he said in an interview Friday. “We’re not oblivious to the strained relations going on right now between China and Canada … (But) our hope with all of this is that we keep the progress up and Interpol continues to take a hard look at these.”