Government refuses to transfer Zaoui from prison

3.00pm

Immigration minister Lianne Dalziel has rejected a request to release asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui from prison.

Mr Zaoui's lawyers asked for him to be transferred from Auckland Remand Prison to the Mangere refuge resettlement centre.

Ms Dalziel told journalists the centre "was not an option".

Mr Zaoui, 43, an Algerian, has spent more than a year in New Zealand prisons after arriving on a false passport and being detained by authorities on suspicion of terrorist links.

Police and the Immigration Service suspected he was a terrorist and the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) issued a certificate saying he was a "threat to national security".

But the independent Refugee Status Appeals Authority ruled in August that he was a genuine refugee, not a terrorist.

The certificate is now under review by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Laurie Greig.

Ms Dalziel said she had only looked at the request to move Mr Zaoui from her perspective as immigration minister and whether it was possible for him to go the Mangere centre.

"The advice that I have received is that is not possible," Ms Dalziel said.

Mr Zaoui's lawyers have also made a request to corrections minister Paul Swain to release Mr Zaoui.

Mr Swain was not immediately available for comment.

Mr Zaoui's application for refugee status has been the subject of drawn out legal action.

Last month in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Williams said Mr Zaoui was entitled to a summary of the secret information the SIS claims to have on the former Algerian politician.

Supporters of Mr Zaoui says he is being treated unfairly and is a peaceful man who faces death or torture if he is forced to leave New Zealand.

The Government has steadfastly stood by the decision to detain Mr Zaoui and said it will await the completion of the process examining Mr Zaoui's current status and past record.

A spokeswoman for Mr Swain said Mr Zaoui's lawyers had written to him, but she was unwilling to discuss the exact nature of their request.

Under the law Mr Swain has discretion to temporarily release people held in prison.

A reply to the lawyers was currently being considered, the spokeswoman said.

- NZPA