The following document from the Director of New Zealand's Security & Intelligence Service was released by Ahmed Zaoui's lawyers on 20 Feb 2004:

"Summary of Allegations" and reasoning of the Director of Security in making a Security Risk Certificate about Mr Ahmed Zaoui

1. Ahmed ZAOUI arrived in New Zealand on 4 December 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.

2. 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 Viet Nam. 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, be should twice visit a place where he might be recognised by Algerian diplomats.

3. 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.

4. The Service instituted enquiries with overseas liaison partners about Mr ZAOUI's activities since he left Algeria. These enquiries 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;