Belgium responds to refugee body's ruling on Zaoui

By CATHERINE FIELD in Brussels AND CATHERINE MASTERS in Auckland

The Belgian Government has officially responded to the Refugee Status Appeals Authority decision on Ahmed Zaoui - but what they said remains a mystery.

A document relating to Mr Zaoui's involvement in the Belgian courts was delivered to the New Zealand Embassy in Brussels this month.

The Weekend Herald understands that both the Belgian and French governments are angry that the authority criticised their justice processes.

The authority analysed charges and convictions against Mr Zaoui in Belgium and France and discounted them, declaring Mr Zaoui a genuine refugee and man of peace.

The decision found the Belgian convictions were "unsafe".

A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, said yesterday that she knew nothing about the Belgian document and could not comment.

The Weekend Herald asked the New Zealand Embassy in Brussels about its role in the Zaoui affair but diplomats refused to answer questions, directing all inquiries to Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff in Wellington.

Mr Goff is in Germany, but a spokesman for his office confirmed a third-person note, generated by the Belgian Government, had been given to the New Zealand Embassy and that it related to issues raised in the authority's decision.

A third-person note is a formal response from one Government to another via various parties.

In Belgium, Weekend Herald inquiries have found not everyone in that country's intelligence services believes Mr Zaoui was ever involved in terrorism.

A senior member of the intelligence anti-terrorist unit, Alain Grignard, questioned the value to the New Zealand Government's case of any information from the Belgian court judgments.

Mr Grignard told the Weekend Herald Mr Zaoui had never been regarded as a ruthless terrorist.

"He had connections with people in terrorist groups, but not the real heavies."

Mr Grignard added that Mr Zaoui "never appeared in any 'hot' dossier".

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