KEY POINTS:
A Police Complaints Authority decision about the treatment of Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui is a "vindication" for him, his lawyer says.
Deborah Manning said yesterday that the decision, which was made public at the weekend, showed key agencies in the case raced to quick conclusions about Mr Zaoui which were unjustified.
The authority investigation - which took three years - was initiated by Matt Robson when he was still a Progressives MP in January 2004.
The authority, Judge Ian Borrin, upheld a number of complaints and referred his findings to the police commissioner.
The authority said the police threat assessment of Mr Zaoui was "not well considered nor well constructed and it should not have been presented to Corrections in the form that it was".
It "assumed much greater significance than was appropriate".
Among tactics used by police was placing an undercover agent in a cell with Mr Zaoui.
The agent asked Mr Zaoui, "Where is Osama bin Laden?" Mr Zaoui replied, "In Afghanistan", according to the Sunday-Star Times.
The authority report said the agent was put in a dayroom with Mr Zaoui at Papakura police station on three occasions soon after the Algerian asylum seeker arrived in New Zealand.
Mr Zaoui was suspected of being a member of the Algerian terrorist organisation GIA. The agent was to "gather intelligence" with questions such as, "Do you like Bin Laden?" and "Where is Osama bin Laden?"
While unorthodox, the ploy did not appear to breach Mr Zaoui's rights, the report said.
Mr Zaoui had provided no information of note, Judge Borrin wrote.
Mr Robson told NZPA the report proved that police and other departments acted in a way which was not appropriate. "Police were stepping beyond bounds."
The ruling had wider implications on "the way justice is carried out in New Zealand".
Mr Robson said the placing of an agent in Mr Zaoui's cell was "laughable".
"But, worryingly, that's how we go about building a case up against somebody."
Mr Zaoui is living with Dominican friars in central Auckland while awaiting the review of the Government's security risk certificate which will decide his future.
Green Party MP Keith Locke yesterday called on the police to apologise.
The police threat assessment had led to a lot of misconceptions about Mr Zaoui that continued to this day, he said.
He would write to Police Commissioner Howard Broad this week asking for an explanation.
- NZPA
