is an Algeria n member of the Islamic Salvation Front who was Convicted on Terrorism -related charges in Belgium and France . He arrived in New Zealand on 4 December 2002 where he sought Refugee status.
In 1991 , Algeria held its first multiparty elections since independence. Zaoui, an Imam , and an associate Professor of Theology at the University Of Algiers , stood as a candidate for the Islamic Salvation Front or FIS. However, the government cancelled 1991 Elections after the first round results showed that the FIS would win, citing fears that the Islamist party would end Democracy . When the government then banned the FIS and arrested thousands of its members, Islamist guerrillas rapidly emerged and began an armed campaign against the government and its supporters which became the Algerian Civil War .
In August 1993, he was convicted in Algeria of "acts of aggression to destabilise state institutions and inciting armed rebellion to carry out assassinations and to destroy property" and sentenced to life imprisonment; this caused him to flee to Europe. Other convictions in Algeria occurred in 1996, and 1997, which carry a death sentence.
In March 1994 , Belgium charged him with being "the instigator or the head of a criminal organisation" and two charges of using false passports. He was acquitted at his first trial but was convicted on appeal and received a four-year suspended sentence {Link without Title} .
While still under a Belgian home detention order which limited his movements to the street he lived on, he travelled illegally to Switzerland . The Swiss authorities refused his request for asylum due to his ongoing political activities, and made a deal with Burkina Faso to deport Zaoui and his family there, while still providing Zaoui with a 1500 Swiss franc monthly allowance {Link without Title} .
Zaoui left Burkina Faso and travelled to Malaysia in 2000.
In 2001 France convicted him in absentia for "participation in a criminal group with a view to preparing terrorist acts".
In December 2002 he arrived in New Zealand from Vietnam on a false South African passport and requested refugee status.
Zaoui's initial appeal for refugee status was declined, primarily on the recommendations of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service , which issued a Security Risk Certificate . While not made public at the time, in February 2004 the High Court ordered the SIS to release summary of its allegations to Zaoui's lawyers, who then released it to the media. Excluding the classified information which the SIS was not required to disclose, the summary was as follows:
Ahmed Zaoui arrived in New Zealand on December 4, 2002, having attempted to destroy a false South African passport en route. He was interviewed by Immigration and Customs officers at the airport, detained, and interviewed by the police. He was then interviewed jointly by police and SIS officers, and later by an Arabic-speaking SIS officer alone.
In the joint police-SIS interview Mr Zaoui was questioned about the videotape he had made during his journey overland from Malaysia via Thailand and Laos to Vietnam.
The focus on places which are not obvious tourist sites but which are frequented by Westerners, including an oil company building, tourist buses and an internet cafe, looked suspiciously like a "casing" video. His answers did not dispel security concerns. The videotape also shows what he said was a second visit to a mosque in Hanoi, likely to be frequented by Algerian diplomats. He had no satisfactory answer as to why, if (as he had said) he feared being discovered by Algerian security officers, he should twice visit a place where he might be recognised by Algerian diplomats.
The interview with the Arabic-speaking SIS officer produced one point of security concern, relating to the veracity of an answer Mr Zaoui gave, which cannot be disclosed without compromising classified security information which cannot be divulged.
The service instituted inquiries with overseas liaison partners about Mr Zaoui's activities since he left Algeria. These inquiries confirmed that Mr Zaoui:
- Was twice declined refugee status in Belgium, in 1995 and 1996.
- Was convicted in Belgium in 1996 of being a leader and instigator of a criminal association with the intention of attacking persons and property.
- Having been released from custody, was issued with a ministerial order for home detention which limited his movements to the street in Brussels where he and his family lived.
- Nonetheless left Belgium and entered Switzerland illegally in 1997.
- Undertook activities in Switzerland which the Swiss Government saw as endangering Switzerland's domestic and external security. The Swiss authorities therefore removed his fax, email and internet access.
- Appealed to the European Court of Human Rights against this Swiss decision. The European Court considered his proceeding to be manifestly ill-founded and declared it inadmissible in full.
- Was expelled from Switzerland to Burkina Faso in 1998.
- Left Burkina Faso in 2000 and arrived in Malaysia.
- Was convicted in absentia in France in 2001 of participation in a criminal group with a view to preparing terrorist acts.
These inquiries also produced classified information which provided background to the above public facts. Both the public facts and the classified information make it clear that there was not just a single source of information being repeated. Rather, the relevant authorities in each of the three countries carried out their own independent investigations into Mr Zaoui's activities in their own countries and reached the conclusions reflected in the convictions and other decisions.
The service discussed with the liaison partners concerned whether it would be possible to provide an unclassified summary or version of the classified information. The Belgians and Swiss agreed and this information was given to Mr Zaoui's lawyers in May 2003.
- In essence, the Belgian unclassified information confirmed that Mr Zaoui had been found to be a leader and instigator of a criminal association with the intention of attacking persons and property. It was not clearly established for what movement he was working.
- The Swiss Federal Council considered (unofficial translation) "the resumption of Mr Zaoui's activity to be a potential threat to Switzerland's internal security. His polarising and provocative activity may lead to acts of violence, and even attacks, in Switzerland. In view of the international undertakings it has made, Switzerland can no longer tolerate the appearance of groupings which support, encourage or carry out, directly or indirectly, violent or terrorist activities. The intrigues by the leader of the FIS in Switzerland are such as to even affect our country's relations with foreign countries and thereby endanger Switzerland's external security."
On March 20, 2003, the Director of Security made a Security Risk Certificate about Mr Zaoui, relying on definition (c) of security in the NZSJS Act 1969:
- (c) The protection of New Zealand from activities within or relating to New Zealand that:
- ---(i) Are influenced by any foreign organisation or any foreign person; and
- ---(ii) Are clandestine or deceptive, or threaten the safety of any person; and
- ---(iii) Impact adversely on New Zealand's international wellbeing."
His reasoning is as follows, in the form of comment on each section of the definition. It is based both on the publicly known security-related European decisions and convictions and related unclassified information and on classified security information which cannot be divulged.
- "The protection of New Zealand from activities within or relating to New Zealand that ... "
It is reasonable to suspect that if permitted to settle in New Zealand Mr Zaoui would in due course undertake, facilitate, promote or encourage activities like those of which he was convicted in Belgium and France and/or which the Swiss Government decided endangered Switzerland's domestic and external security. His presence here would attract, both directly (people who wish to work with him) and indirectly (people encouraged to believe that New Zealand is a safe haven for people with his sort of record), other people likely to engage in activities of security concern.
- "Are influenced by any foreign organisation or any foreign person ... "
Mr Zaoui is a foreign person. He has a long record of involvement with foreign persons and foreign organisations, including leadership. There is good reason to believe that any future activities he may undertake will be influenced by other foreign persons and/or by foreign organisations.
- "Are clandestine or deceptive, or threaten the safely of any person ... "
The activities of which be was convicted in Belgium and France were clandestine or deceptive or threatened the safety of persons. The Swiss Government believed that his activity in Switzerland "may lead to acts of violence, and even attacks, in Switzerland". Activities of this kind in New Zealand, by Mr Zaoui or by others attracted to New Zealand by his presence here, could threaten the safety of New Zealanders.
- "Impact adversely on New Zealand's international wellbeing."
As part of the international community it is New Zealand's responsibility to take its proper part in controlling, defeating and preventing activities of security concern, such as those of which Mr Zaoui has been convicted in Belgium and France and for which he was deported from Switzerland. Consistent with this, it is a Government objective to ensure that New Zealand is neither the victim nor the source of acts of terrorism or other activities of security concern, and to prevent New Zealand from being or becoming a safe haven for people who have undertaken, or may be intending to undertake, such activities.
If Mr Zaoui, with his public record, were allowed to settle here, that would indicate that New Zealand had a lower level of concern about security than other like-minded countries. That would impact adversely on New Zealand's reputation with such countries and thus on New Zealand's international wellbeing.
If Mr Zaoui, or other people attracted to New Zealand by his presence here, were to undertake, facilitate, promote or encourage activities of security concern, either in New Zealand or elsewhere from within New Zealand, the adverse impact on New Zealand's reputation and thus on its international wellbeing would be compounded.
E.R. Woods, Director of Security, January 27, 2004. {Link without Title}
After his arrest, he was initially confined for ten months in the maximum security Paremoremo prison where he was placed on a "non-association regime". While Zaoui and his supporters' have characterised this as being in Solitary Confinement ; this was dismissed as a ‘myth" by the Department Of Corrections . However, in October 2003 his case was reviewed, and citing the "likely length of time before legal proceedings conclude", the Department of Corrections transferred him to the medium security Auckland Remand Prison where he was placed on a ‘normal association regime". {Link without Title}
In August 2003 the Refugee Status Appeals Authority declared both his Belgian and French trials to be "unsafe" and granted Zaoui refugee status.
In September 2004, Prime Minister Helen Clark 's office stated that Zaoui had links to Al Qaeda , but Clark later withdrew the claim, saying that her "office had probably gone too far in making the link" {Link without Title} .
On 20 October 2004, many of his supporters participated in a launch of a biographical book in the Beehive foyer in Wellington .
On 9 December 2004 the Supreme Court Of New Zealand granted Zaoui Bail . Despite Crown opposition, the Court allowed him to reside in the Dominican Priory in central Auckland . He must report to the Police twice a week and must spend each night in the Friary between 10pm and 6am.
In October 2005 Zaoui published ''Migrant Birds'', ISBN 1877333360, a book of 24 poems he wrote as a response to being imprisoned. The poems are in Arabic and English. A 25th poem, ''He will come back, the one I'm waiting for'', was called the most important New Zealand poem of 2004 by Emma Neale, editor of ''Best New Zealand Poems 2004''.
He has been granted refugee status, but several legal processes remain before he is either completely freed or deported.
Zaoui has a wife and four children, who are currently in Southeast Asia and who will join him in New Zealand if the security risk certificate is lifted and he is allowed to remain in New Zealand.
At the November 2004 Supreme Court hearing, the Solicitor-General made it clear that if the security risk certificate should be confirmed and relied on by the Minister, Mr Zaoui would not be deported to a country where he would face persecution as that would contravene the Convention Against Torture.
On 29 September 2005 a referendum was held in Algeria which gave amnesty to those jailed and convicted during the civil war.
|
