Goff tells why foreign states dragged into Zaoui affair

The Foreign Affairs Ministry asked three foreign Governments to comment on the Refugee Status Appeals Authority's decision on Ahmed Zaoui because they were mentioned in the decision, Parliament has been told.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said yesterday that the ministry asked its embassies covering France, Switzerland and Belgium to seek comment from those Governments because their judicial actions were commented on in the appeal authority's decision that Mr Zaoui, an Algerian asylum seeker, was a legitimate refugee.

Mr Goff rejected Green MP Keith Locke's assertion that the ministry had "repeatedly hounded these three foreign Governments for information to undermine the well-considered judgment" of the appeals authority.

NZ First MP Winston Peters said three First World judicial systems had adjudged Mr Zaoui a terrorist.

As such, and given that he had now cost New Zealand taxpayers more than $900,000, he should be thrown out of New Zealand, Mr Peters said.

Mr Goff agreed that the judicial systems of Switzerland, France and Belgium, all of which were known for their human rights, had reached a similar conclusion to New Zealand about Mr Zaoui.

However, the Government had to follow the rule of the law, he said.

Mr Zaoui has been held in jail since December 2002, while a review of the security risk certificate is completed. The review is now awaiting a Court of Appeal decision as to whether the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security has to take Mr Zaoui's human rights into account.

- NZPA

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