Dalziel says no to Zaoui transfer application

Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel says she will not authorise asylum-seeker Ahmed Zaoui's release from prison, but another minister is considering the issue.

Mr Zaoui's lawyers had asked Ms Dalziel to transfer the 43-year-old Algerian from Auckland remand prison to the Mangere refugee resettlement centre.

Ms Dalziel at first told journalists yesterday the centre was not an option.

She said she had looked at the request to move Mr Zaoui only from her perspective as Immigration Minister and whether he could be held at the Mangere centre.

"The advice I have received is that is not possible."

Later, a spokeswoman said Ms Dalziel was still seeking advice and had not yet rejected the request, but the day ended with a letter being sent to Mr Zaoui's lawyer rejecting the application.

Mr Zaoui is imprisoned on a warrant issued under the Immigration Act which specifies that he be detained.

His lawyers had hoped the Mangere centre could be treated as a place of detention and Mr Zaoui held there until his case was concluded. His lawyers have also made a request to Corrections Minister Paul Swain to release Mr Zaoui.

Both the minister's office and the lawyers refuse to disclose the nature of the request, but under the penal code the minister can authorise the temporary release of prisoners.

Ms Dalziel has said in the past that she would not allow Mr Zaoui to be released into the community while his case was being considered.

Mr Swain's office would not say when a decision would be made or when the application had been made.

It is understood Mr Zaoui's lawyers wrote to the Government before Christmas.

Mr Zaoui 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.

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

One of his lawyers, Deborah Manning, said Ms Dalziel had made a muddle of the issue and added to her client's distress.

Ms Dalziel had said at Christmas that there was scope for Mr Zaoui to be held elsewhere.

"Now five weeks later she has come back and said 'no' ... and despite us letting the minister know of our client's fragile state, she chose to advise the media of her decision before ourselves."

Mr Zaoui would have heard the result of his application before his lawyers were able to break the news to him.

"We have been waiting for a response for quite some time and this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for Ahmed."

Ms Manning said she had had no contact with Mr Swain's office since making the second application and no indication of when a reply would be sent.

- NZPA