February 23 2022
Kamel Darwish died about 1.44pm on March 15, 2019, police say. But Darwish's brother Zuhair said his phone was answered several times, hours after police say he was dead. Video / Chris Tarpey
Members of the Muslim community are begging the Coroner to delve into the role the internet has in radicalising New Zealanders and say that had their cries for help been listened to years ago the 2019 terror attacks could have been prevented.
They say by ordering a deep dive into the way online platforms operate and the content they allow the Coroner could be "the impetus of change" and stop many future deaths.
Coroner Brigitte Windley is presiding over a three-day scope hearing this week.
The hearing is designed to give interested parties, including victims and families, an opportunity to make submissions themselves, or through a lawyer, on exactly what a coronial inquiry into the attacks will look at.
The inquiry will ultimately aim to establish the cause and circumstances of death, where possible, and consider any recommendations or comments that could help reduce the chances of further deaths in similar circumstances.
Alongside publishing a manifesto minutes before he opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the mass murderer had expressed support for extremists in Facebook posts and engaged with neo-Nazi groups' social media.
The court later heard the offender had been radicalised through his engagement with online groups.
Coroner Brigitte Windley during the scope hearing. Photo / Supplied
IWC national co-ordinator Aliya Danziesen said he was far from the only "nefarious" person being "emboldened online".
She said the internet allowed them to plan their crimes and target communities - particularly Muslims - with their hate.
"That hate left computers and went on to our streets and into our homes," she said.
Prior to the terror attack, Danziesen said the IWC had been vocal about issues including "online radicalisation matters".
They raised concerns with the government and also companies with internet platforms as early as 2015.
She said the IWC was "so alarmed by potential harm" they "increased awareness efforts".
But they got nowhere.
"Insufficient has been done - even in the face of the clear harm and loss of life in Christchurch," she said.
"Platforms were unwilling or unable to tackle … online radicalisation.
"We are asking Coroner to be the impetus of the needed change … the Coroner is in a position to prevent further loss of life."
Danziesen said threats to the Muslim community were ongoing and via online platforms including social media and chat rooms extremists and the like were "augmenting and perpetrating violence against us".
"From cyber threats to in-person threats to ourselves and our property," she said.
"The March 15 attacks were a foreseen possibility long before they occurred … many people are recruited, encouraged and cajoled online to become radicalised.
"Online platforms are not doing enough to protect us."
She said one example of a threat that "underscored the vulnerability of IWC members" was a comment on social media recently.
"Threats to the Muslim community saying they should put us in cages and burn us," she recalled.
The platform refused IWC's request to remove the comments and after investigating the police said the person who published the post resided overseas and so they had no jurisdiction and could not take further action.
The comment remained online.
Danziesen said the reality was people were "going to go from making threats to carrying them out".
"We are now more at risk than prior to March 15," she said.
"While we may not be able to quantify how many people are involved we know it is significant… and the majority are alt-right and far-right.
"There is a risk in New Zealand … a look in is needed for New Zealand to learn if there is anything we can do to prevent others in future"
She implored the Coroner to take direct action.
"We need to better understand the causes of online radicalisation and what drives people to move away from it… So that we can become safe," she said.
"Look into social media platforms … Why would the Coroner not look into these platforms - when it appears they encouraged the terrorist to kill 51 Muslims - in order to prevent future loss of life."
Police arresting the man behind the March 15 terror attack. Photo / Supplied
Dr Max Harris, also representing the IWC said the matters the organisation raised needed to be "fearlessly investigated".
He said the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terror attack did not go far enough.
"The narrative is incomplete," he said.
"The Royal Commission did not ask some questions - there no focus on making recommendations, its job was fact-finding not looking at the past and the future like the Coroner can," he said.
"The Coroner has a valuable lens… the Royal Commission provided a narrative, not an analytical assessment of the online role in the cause of death, it was not asked to evaluate the connection between online and death … it did not ask same questions we are proposing you ask."
He said it would be a "profound mistake" not to probe the matters raised.
FIANZ representative Abdul Razzaq implored Coroner Windley to conduct a full inquest.
He said there were "important question marks" and felt the Royal Commission did not give the answers the Muslim community wanted - and needed.
"We want the Coroner to investigate the fundamental issues which could have prevented the massacre," he said.
He said "red flag issues" particularly around how the terrorist obtained his firearms licence, were not properly canvassed at the Royal Commission and "red flag issues" were considered "out of scope".
"There were gaping holes… Now we have the ability to bring these into scope," Razzaq said.
"We need to know what happened, why it happened and what could have been done to prevent this from happening.
This afternoon the Coroner heard from lawyers for St John Ambulance, the Canterbury District Health Board and police.
St John was willing to meet with and speak to any victim's families and survivors and said they "should have as much information as possible" including a report following a review of the agency's involvement on March 15.
A lawyer for the DHB said it was "firmly committed" to assisting any Coronial inquiry and offered "full transparency".
Christchurch Crown Prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said a phenomenal amount of resources had already gone into investigating every feasible facet of the terror attack.
He said more than 17,000 pages of information was gathered by police and Commission members had travelled to the UK, US, Norway and Australia to speak to experts in intelligence, surveillance and security.
The issues raised by the community about the gunman's gun licence had been "fairly and squarely dealt with" by the commission.
"We've had a criminal investigation… a very thorough one," he said.
He was confident the Royal Commission was also thorough.
Zarifeh conceded that the families may have heard evidence during a trial that did not come out at sentencing.
"But a lot of the material the Royal Commission covered would not have been dealt with at the trial," he said.
"And I can say that because I was prosecuting counsel so was involved the preparation of the Crown case."
He accepted the Royal Commission did not cover "every matter" but by and large it did cover a "large number of matters around the terrorism that occurred… with particular focus on the state sector agencies."
He said it was a matter of looking at the information from the criminal investigation and Commission "as a whole".
"I do submit the act that there are criticisms levelled at the Royal Commission process - but it doesn't mean that you have to put a line through it and start again," he said.
Zarifeh defended the exhaustive work done so far around the mosque attack saying the issues raised by the affected families "can't be taken any further".
"They've done what they can," he reasoned.
But he said if the Coroner wanted police to look at other information they were "more than ready and willing to do that"
"If there's other material you want them to look at - they are very happy to do that," he said.
The Coroner said there appeared to be an "Information vacuum" for the terror attack survivors and families.
"The lack of information to date means they haven't been able to have confidence in the Royal Commission," she said.
She said if there was a further phase in the Coronial process it may be a chance for issues raised by the families to be made clearer.
"It does appear to me the lack of information does seem to be driving the concerns," she said.
A "substantive inquiry phase" could see issues raised "whether discrete or significant" resulting in having evidence sourced and made available to the families.
After that, some of what they were seeking "might fall away" leaving a decision on "what needs to be tested".
New Zealand and the world responded with an outpouring of love after the 2019 terror attack. Photo / NZH
Yesterday Coroner Windley heard that survivors of the mosque attacks wanted more scrutiny over whether the Australian terrorist was indeed a lone wolf - or whether he had help to carry out the massacres.
Some families and survivors also demanded further probing into how the gunman was able to get a firearms licence.
There were also calls to check allegations of "aggression" by first police officers on the bloody and chaotic Al Noor Mosque scene and claims that officers pointed guns at victims.
Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who was jailed for life without parole in August 2020, is dialling into the scope hearing from maximum-security at Auckland Prison but will not be seen or heard from.
The mass murderer is represented by Auckland defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, QC, who could make oral submissions on his behalf.
