Seven more terror names join NZ list

Another seven groups and individuals have been listed as terrorist entities and brought under New Zealand's terrorism suppression laws.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the latest listings would bring New Zealand into line with United Nations Security Council decisions.

"Under New Zealand law we take the UN Security Council listing as evidence for immediate designation here," she said.

None of the groups or individuals was known to have any links to New Zealand, but listing them would deter people from becoming inadvertently involved in their activities, she said.

They are:

* Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

* Stichting Benevolence International Nederland.

* Lashkar I Jhangvi.

* Ansar Al-Islam.

* Special Purpose Islamic Regiment.

* Islamic International Brigade.

* Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs.

Helen Clark said two of them related directly to Afghanistan and the Taleban and one was responsible for the kidnap and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Another was a fundraising organisation in the Netherlands which was involved with al Qaeda, and two were connected with the death in 1998 of New Zealander Stanley Shaw in Chechnya.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a self-styled warlord allied to remnant Taleban forces in Afghanistan.

Under the terrorism suppression laws, it is now an offence to take part in the organisations, recruit members for them, provide or collect funds for them or make services available to them.

- NZPA