Al-Zawahiri 'checked NZ as terrorist haven'

By ANGELA GREGORY

Defence analysts say the alleged visit to New Zealand in the 1990s of a man now being hunted as a top al Qaeda strategist could indicate the country was being checked out as a haven for terrorists.

A Pakistan newspaper editor, Hamid Mir, has revealed claims made by Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri that he visited New Zealand twice, and Australia once, between 1992 and 1996.

Al-Zawahiri is the second most wanted man by the United States after bin Laden and said to be the brains of their global terror operation. Pakistani authorities believe they have him cornered in a remote area near the Afghan border.

In an interview to be aired today on Australian television, Mr Mir has reportedly said al-Zawahiri told him of his visits to New Zealand.

He made the claims in the interview conducted in a remote Afghanistan hide-away in November 2001.

Mr Mir told the Weekend Australian newspaper that al-Zawahiri had said he was in New Zealand to meet "some of his people" and on a mission to organise his network all over the world.

Auckland University political studies lecturer Paul Buchanan said if the report was true it was "most alarming" that al-Zawahiri had visited New Zealand twice because it indicated the country was of interest to him.

Dr Buchanan, a political scientist and former United States Defence Department analyst, said al-Zawahiri apparently spoke very good English and had a track record of travelling undercover.

He accused New Zealand police, who say there is no evidence of any such visits, of not checking deeply enough and being inept.

Dr Buchanan doubted the visits would have been for recruitment purposes given the size of the Islamic community in New Zealand and the nature of the Muslims who lived here.

"If anything it was probably to see if it could be a safe haven, for people to lie low."

Dr Buchanan said the alleged timing of the visits about a decade ago made it "pretty old news" given that al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad forces had not by then merged.

"They did not co-ordinate until 1998 and did not merge until 1999 ... all this is water under the bridge."

If New Zealand had then been seen as a haven that would have changed by now because of increased security, he said.

Australian National University terrorism studies director Professor Clive Williams agreed it was well known al-Zawahiri had travelled internationally for some time.

He was inclined to believe that if al-Zawahiri had said he had been to New Zealand and Australia, then he had.

He said it was probably quite easy for al-Zawahiri to travel to New Zealand and Australia in the alleged time frame because authorities were not as vigilant as now.

Professor Williams did not discount the possibility of terrorism cells being set up in New Zealand, where there were United States and Jewish targets of interest.

If the cells existed, Professor Williams picked they would be sleeper cells, possibly never to be activated.

Such conjecture has angered the past president of the Islamic Association of New Zealand, Dr Abdul Rasheed, who said it was anti-Muslim.

Dr Rasheed, a former Malaysian law professor, said reports of the alleged visits were "very sordid journalism" with no evidence to support the claims.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said she had seen no evidence that al-Zawahiri visited New Zealand.

"We have no evidence that he was here," a spokeswoman said. "New Zealand police are liaising with their Australian counterparts and looking into the allegations."