Migrant bigamist goes free

An Iranian bigamist who "unscrupulously" exploited a New Zealand woman and treated her "grotesquely" to stay in this country has been freed from detention, despite being served with a removal order.

And it seems there is little the authorities can do at this stage to kick him out of New Zealand.

Amir Hoshang Mohebbi has no passport, claiming he destroyed it en route to New Zealand in July 1997.

He cannot be deported without proper travel documents.

But the Iranian embassy refuses to issue a passport unless Mohebbi applies himself.

Mohebbi has refused Immigration Service requests to sign the necessary forms.

So here he stays.

Since March Mohebbi has been detained in Mt Eden prison by order of a district court judge, purportedly under section 138A of the Immigration Act.

But yesterday his lawyer, Hinerake Ratcliffe, argued in the High Court at Auckland that his detention was unlawful.

Justice Robert Chambers agreed, saying that particular section of the act was designed to ascertain a person's identity.

But there was no doubt as to Mohebbi's identity.

The judge did not consider the section authorised Mohebbi's continued detention and said he could find no other section under which Mohebbi could be held until he could be removed.

Justice Chambers said there was no doubt that Mohebbi was in the country unlawfully and was flouting New Zealand's immigration laws.

But, reluctantly, he concluded that he must issue a writ of habeas corpus, the Crown having failed to establish that continued detention of Mohebbi was lawful.

Mark Woolford, appearing for the Crown, said that the Iranian embassy had taken an unusual stance.

Normally embassies issued travel documents to enable their nationals to be removed to their homeland.

The issue had now been taken up at diplomatic level in Tehran in an attempt to get Mohebbi a passport or other travel documents.

While free, Mohebbi will not be issued with a work permit.

It is understood that his present partner has a part-time job.

On his arrival in 1997 Mohebbi applied for refugee status but was turned down.

However, eight days after the Refugee Status Appeals Authority decision, Mohebbi married a New Zealand woman.

He then appealed to the Removal Review Authority, who allowed him to stay because of humanitarian reasons related solely to his new wife.

Mohebbi was, however, already married to an Iranian woman.

In July 2000 he had his New Zealand marriage declared void.

In October that year his New Zealand wife had a child.

In November he was convicted of bigamy and making a false declaration.

He began living with another New Zealand woman and applied for residency, which was declined.

Mohebbi appealed on the basis of the exceptional humanitarian nature of his new family unit, his partner being pregnant.

In turning down his application in January this year, the Removal Review Authority said that it was under no misapprehension that Mohebbi was motivated throughout by his attempts to stay in New Zealand.

The authority was cynical about his capacity for telling the truth.

"The appellant's [Mohebbi's] forming of relationships, marriage and conception of children has been performed with almost breathless haste," the authority said.

In its earlier decision in 1999, the authority said that by any standards Mohebbi's conduct had been deplorable.

"His deceit has shamed and humiliated [his New Zealand wife] and resulted in levels of anxiety and stress for her that have brought on a deterioration in her physical and mental health ...

"The appellant is unscrupulous. His deception and timing of his marriage must raise serious doubts as to his true motivations for entering the marriage ...

"Entering a marriage before the annulment of a previous marriage, as he did, represents a grotesque misuse of [his New Zealand wife]," the authority said.

It is understood that two Afghans are held under similar provisions, and their detention may now come into question.