PM queries Zaoui refugee ruling

By HELEN TUNNAH, deputy political editor

Prime Minister Helen Clark has directed a veiled criticism at the tribunal which declared Ahmed Zaoui a refugee by asking why it dismissed "out of hand" criminal convictions against him in France and Belgium.

She said normally a person with similar convictions would be prevented from getting to "first base" if they tried to migrate here legally.

But the Refugee Status Appeals Authority had declared the convictions, linked to Mr Zaoui's use of false passports and his political activities in Europe, unsafe.

"Those convictions would in the normal course of events never see him get permanent residence in New Zealand," Helen Clark said on Newstalk ZB yesterday.

"But the complication is that the Refugee Status Appeals Authority chose for its own reasons to simply dismiss out of hand the French and Belgian convictions."

Mr Zaoui, an Algerian politician who rejects claims he may be a terrorist, came to New Zealand in December 2002 on false travel documents and claimed asylum.

Initially detained as a suspected terrorist, he is now held in jail on the basis of "classified" information which the SIS used to have a national security risk certificate issued against him by the Government.

The authority, which did not have access to the classified material, last year rejected claims he was a terrorist, said he was right to fear he might be killed if he returned to Algeria, and declared him a refugee.

The authority does not comment on specific cases.

The Herald has been told, however, the convictions against Mr Zaoui in Belgium and France, including one suggesting he was linked to a plot to perform criminal or terrorist acts, would have been considered.

The authority's decision says some of the evidence used in the convictions was prejudicial and would not have been admissible in a New Zealand court. It ruled the convictions were unsafe. The dismissal of their court decisions is understood to have angered both French and Belgian authorities.

Under the United Nations Convention on Refugees, an asylum seeker forfeits refugee status if he has committed political crimes.

Helen Clark would not be interviewed yesterday, but on radio she referred to a Weekend Herald report which said European intelligence sources believed Mr Zaoui had provided financial or logistical support to Algerian terrorists.

She said while the Government could lift the security risk certificate against Mr Zaoui at any time, on the basis of the Herald report people might say, "Hang on a minute, would that be wise?"

She said she was not aware that the authority had called oral evidence from Belgium or French authorities over evidence which led to the convictions.

The decision to declare him a refugee meant he could not now just be deported. She said she had been advised the Government could not appeal Mr Zaoui's refugee status.

But last night Zaoui supporter and Green MP Keith Locke called Helen Clark's remarks "disgraceful".

"It's outrageous for a Prime Minister to dismiss a judicial procedure in that manner."

He said Mr Zaoui should be judged on his own acts and public statements, and not the decisions of French and Belgian authorities who have close links to an Algerian regime which outlawed Mr Zaoui's political party.

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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