Former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs Jendayi Frazer has strongly criticized western countries for repeatedly abusing the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, citing last month’s arrest in the United Kingdom of Lt Gen Emmanuel Karenzi Karake as one of the latest examples of "new paternalism and barbarism”.

In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Frazer, who was America’s top Africa diplomat from 2005-2009, questioned the arrest of the Rwandan intelligence chief, saying the Spanish indictment that led to the incident was based on "false and unsubstantiated” allegations.

Karake was arrested at Heathrow airport in London on June 20 on his way back home from an official mission, an incident that shocked Rwandans and observers with Kigali describing it "contemptible and outrageous”.

"A U.S. government interagency review conducted in 2007-08, when I led the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, found that the Spanish allegations against Mr. Karenzi Karake were false and unsubstantiated,” Amb. Frazer, also a former U.S. envoy to South Africa (2004-2005), said.

The former American diplomat added: "The U.S. fully backed his reappointment in 2008 as deputy commander of Unamid (United Nations-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur) forces.”

"It would be a travesty of justice if the U.K. were to extradite Mr. Karake to Spain to stand trial,” she added.

Before rising to the helm of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Karake served as the Unamid deputy commander and Amb. Frazer says the Rwandan general’s performance in Darfur "was by all accounts exemplary”.

The 2008 Spanish indictment targeted 40 Rwandan officials, all previously key members of the former Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) rebels that overthrew a genocidal regime 21 years ago, effectively stopping the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The indictment, by Judge Andreu Fernando Mirelles of Spain’s National Court, drew widespread criticism while Interpol refused to enforce it because it deemed it was politically motivated, eventually forcing Spain’s National High Court to annul it in January 2015.

Frazer is one of the high-profile former and current officials around the world who have openly criticized the indictment and Gen Karake’s subsequent arrest in London and her comments echo the official position of the US embassy in Kigali on the issue.

A 2008 confidential diplomatic cable from then U.S. ambassador to Rwanda, Michael R. Arietti, leaked by WikiLeaks, described the indictment as "outrageous and inaccurate.”

"The Spanish Indictment of 40 Rwandan military officers offers an unrecognisable version of some of the most painful and violent episodes in Rwanda’s history, distorting the established record, inventing mass killings,” the cable reads in part.

It appeared to question the motives of the indictment, accusing Judge Mirelles of distorting the realities surrounding the slaughter that rocked Rwanda more than two decades ago – resulting in the death of more than a million people.

"At no point in the judge’s narrative is the (former president Juvenal) Habyarimana regime or extremist elements within that government at fault – there is no planning of genocide, no carrying out of prepared massacres, nary a mention of the insidious and all-encompassing psychological preparation of mass killings by the media outlets controlled by extremist elements.”

A British lawmaker and former International Development secretary Andrew Mitchell was even more pointed in his criticism of the indictment in the wake of Gen Karake’s arrest.

He described it as "a misuse of the European Arrest Warrant system”.

"It’s being used by the supporters of the genocidal regime against those who stopped the Genocide,” he said. "The indictment is being used for political reasons, and not judicial ones.”

This line of thought was rendered more credence way back in 2009 by findings of a UN Panel of Experts which found a rather embarrassing connection between Judge Mirelles and a group of NGOs that supported the FDLR, the DR Congo-based militia linked to the Genocide.

According to the panel’s report, Judge Merelles received financial backing from Fundaciò S’Olivar and Inshuti, two Spanish charitable organizations that had extended support to the FDLR.

The two organizations received nearly €200,000 in grants from the local government of the Balearic Islands (Mallorca of Spain) to help prepare the indictment against Rwanda Patriotic Front, the former political arm of the RPA and Rwanda’s current ruling party, the report that covered violations of a UN arms embargo for the DR Congo said.

"On the basis of testimonies, original email correspondence, audio recordings of conversations, phone logs analysis and receipts of money transfers, as well as other documents, the Group established that FDLR has received regular financial, logistical and political support from individuals belonging to the above charitable institutions which, in turn, were funded directly or indirectly by the government of Islas Baleares, a provincial authority in Spain,” the Group of Experts said in its November 23, 2009 report to the UN Security Council.

FDLR, which has since defied several UN-backed ultimatums to voluntarily disarm, was blacklisted by the US as a terrorist organisation.

The controversial indictment accuses the former to RPA figures of genocide, war crimes, terrorism, among others.

Some of the most wanted Genocide suspects live in the United Kingdom, including five men who were previously arrested and released without trial.

Karake remains on restricted bail in London even as there have been widespread calls, including from Africa Union’s Peace and Security Council, for his "immediate and unconditional release”.

Both the Council and Amb. Frazer have slammed the selective application of the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, with the former American diplomat saying the concept is now used to target weaker countries while powerful nations protect themselves and their citizens from such show trials.

"…with powerful states able to shield themselves and their clients, Africa has borne the brunt of indictments. Far from pursuing justice for victims, these courts have become a venue for public-relations exercises by activist groups,” she said.

Frazer cited incidents when the US had to ward off efforts to indict some of its officials over suspected war crimes.

"Only when U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatened to move NATO headquarters out of Brussels in 2003 did Belgium rein in efforts to indict former President George H.W. Bush, and Gens. Colin Powell and Tommy Franks, for alleged "war crimes” during the 1990-91 Gulf War. Spanish courts have indicted American military personnel in Iraq and investigated the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay”.

Spain has also curtailed efforts by some of judges to indict former top Chinese leaders.

The AU Peace and Security Council described Karake’s arrest as a "blatant violation of the principle of international jurisdiction by some non-African states against African officials and its implication on peace and security on the continent”.

Meanwhile, Amb. Frazer also slammed the International Criminal Court and echoed Africa’s view that the court has become a political tool that’s used to target African figures to influence local politics.

"The ICC’s recent indictments of top Kenyan officials are a prime example…As U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2005-09, and the point person during Kenya’s 2007-08 post-election violence, I knew the ICC indictments were purely political,” he said.

Frazer added: "The court’s decision to continue its case against Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, reflects a degree of indifference and even hostility to Kenya’s efforts to heal its political divisions”.

She said the ICC’s indictments in Kenya began with former chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s "determination to prove the court’s relevance in Africa by going after what he reportedly called "low-hanging fruit.”’

"In other words, African political and military leaders unable to resist ICC jurisdiction,” the former diplomat added.

She added: "Sadly, the early hope of "universal jurisdiction” ending impunity for perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity has given way to cynicism, both in Africa and the West.

"In Africa it is believed that, in the rush to demonstrate their power, these courts and their defenders have been too willing to brush aside considerations of due process that they defend at home”.

"In the West, the cynicism is perhaps even more damaging because it calls into question the moral capabilities of Africans and their leaders, and revives the language of paternalism and barbarism of earlier generations”.

Lt Gen Karake, whose arrest sparked a series of demonstrations in Rwanda and abroad, is scheduled to return to court in September for a hearing having said during the initial appearance at the Westminster Magistrates Court that he opposed attempts to extradite him to Spain.