Feelers out for new home should Zaoui be deported

By HELEN TUNNAH

Talks have been held with other countries to see if they will take Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui if he is finally declared a security risk and deported.

Prime Minister Helen Clark will not say which nations have been asked to consider taking Mr Zaoui, but confirmed to Parliament yesterday that negotiations have been held with some countries.

Mr Zaoui is fighting a national security risk certificate issued against him on the basis of classified Security Intelligence Service information.

The Algerian politician arrived in New Zealand in December 2002 on a false South African passport and claimed asylum. He says he may be killed if he returns to Algeria.

He has been detained without charge for 17 months, even though he was declared a genuine refugee last year by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.

The authority has not seen the SIS material on Mr Zaoui, but decided convictions against him in France and Belgium, linked to his political activities in Europe, were unsafe.

Mr Zaoui faces many more weeks in jail waiting for court action relating to his case to be completed, and for the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security to finally review whether the risk certificate should have been issued.

If the Inspector General, Justice Paul Neazor, decides it is valid, the Immigration Minister will have three days to decide whether to accept the decision and deport Mr Zaoui. But international conventions require New Zealand to ensure he is not at risk in any country he is sent to.

Helen Clark said she could give no guarantee that Mr Zaoui would be deported if the certificate was upheld because "to deport, one has to find somebody to take the person".

Asked how many of the states spoken to were Muslim, and how many had agreed to take him, she said: "None".


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