Cheers as Zaoui enjoys freedom

Ahmed Zaoui waves to supporters as he is driven from Mt Eden remand prison. Picture / Amos Chapple

Ahmed Zaoui was last night freed on bail after two years of imprisonment without charge.

He was whisked from Mt Eden remand prison in Auckland shortly after 8pm where about 100 supporters got only a quick glimpse of him.

The Algerian refugee's lawyers drove him quickly away in a grey Jaguar after a media scrum descended on the car.

He appeared overwhelmed and put his head in his hands, but as the car sped away he smiled and waved at the crowd through the window.

A condition of Mr Zaoui's bail is that he must stay at the Dominican Priory in Newton and be there between 10pm and 6am.

Earlier yesterday his supporters in Wellington cheered outside the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Sian Elias confirmed just after 4pm that he would get bail.

The decision came after a bail hearing at which the Crown admitted there was no danger of violence in New Zealand if Mr Zaoui, who turned 44 this week, was released.

Solicitor-General Terence Arnold, QC, told the court that Mr Zaoui's detention had been "unduly long" - but not unlawful.

Mr Zaoui told Close Up At 7 in a pre-recorded interview that he was no terrorist and the Security Intelligence Service information on him was a "fairytale".

He said he was a "wandering man" who had fled Algeria to save his life and those of his children.

At yesterday's hearing, Mr Arnold outlined the Crown's continued opposition to bail, although he offered the option of a transfer from Mt Eden remand prison to the Mangere Refugee and Resettlement Centre.

"It is proper that the court look at the nature of the security concern that has been expressed and consider whether bail is compatible with that concern," he said.

He indicated that the main concerns were Mr Zaoui's communicating and associating with others, including issuing "communiques", and "the function of leadership".

Transferring him to the centre allowed at least a "modest ability" to monitor him.

"If Mr Zaoui were to be bailed, for example, into the care of the Dominican Friars, there is no realistic way in which the state could closely monitor the activities."

But Justice Thomas Gault observed during the hearing that security services were likely to continue monitoring Mr Zaoui wherever he was.

Mr Zaoui's lawyers, Deborah Manning and Rodney Harrison, QC, warned after the decision that Mr Zaoui's legal fight to stay in New Zealand was not over.

"He still doesn't have the protection of New Zealand and as a refugee that's what he needs, and his family is still in hiding waiting to be reunited with their husband and father."

The Crown has sought the Supreme Court's leave to appeal against a lower court decision which ruled that Mr Zaoui's human rights must be taken into account when the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Justice Paul Neazor, reviews the SIS's security risk certificate issued against him.

Mr Zaoui arrived in the country in December 2002 without a valid passport and claiming refugee status. He has been jailed ever since because of SIS concerns that he is a threat to national security.

Reading the court's decision, Dame Sian said transferring him to the Mangere centre would have been a continuation of his detention.

She said the SIS certificate was directed at the risk to national security should Mr Zaoui permanently settle in New Zealand. It was not directly concerned with risks which might be posed by his presence in the community while on bail.

Noting that a further six to 12 months would elapse before his status was finally determined, she said further detention could be contemplated only if the risk from release on bail justified it.

"The Solicitor-General was pressed to identify the risks which might arise. He acknowledged that they did not include concerns about violence in New Zealand as a result of activities by Mr Zaoui."

Dame Sian said he had identified the risks as the continuation of activities Mr Zaoui had undertaken in Europe. But she said the Crown had been unable to specify the people or groups with association or contact with Mr Zaoui that would give rise to security concerns.

Dr Harrison fired a broadside at the Crown case after the decision.

The Crown had come up with nothing to justify Mr Zaoui's continued imprisonment that had not already been considered thoroughly by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, he said.

The SIS director had relied on information about 10-year-old events - mainly convictions in France and Belgium not thought worthy of an actual jail sentence but merely suspended sentences.

"Mr Zaoui has spent two years in prison in effect because of convictions which he was not imprisoned for ... at the time.

"If he'd arrived here and robbed a bank, he would probably be out by now, and if the countries who said he'd committed crimes in those countries weren't prepared to jail him, why has he spent two years in prison in New Zealand?"

A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said she had no comment. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Margaret Wilson said: "The court has made its decision and that is where the matter rests."

Green MP Keith Locke celebrated the "collapse" of the Government's case. "After two years of unjustified imprisonment in New Zealand jails, Mr Zaoui can at last start to live something like a normal life."

But New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the decision meant New Zealand had "thrown open its doors" to international terrorism and placed a welcome mat at the border for extremists.

He said it was "outrageous" an elected Government had capitulated before the Supreme Court and effectively handed the country's security to a group of unelected judges and a religious order.

"Zaoui is a convicted criminal. He was kicked out of France, Belgium and Switzerland."

Next Tuesday Mr Zaoui may appear at Parliament to speak to a dinner on women's rights organised by MPs including Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia.

 

BAIL CONDITIONS

Ahmed Zaoui must reside at the Dominican Priory in Newton and be there between 10pm and 6am.

He must report to the Auckland Central police station between 10am and 4pm each Tuesday and Friday.

Two undertakings are to be filed in the High Court by 5pm next Wednesday.

They are that:

Mr Zaoui must undertake to observe bail conditions and Dominican Friar Peter Murnane must undertake to immediately report any breaches of conditions to police.