SIS reasons for declaring Zaoui a threat 'nonsense' say lawyers

12.00pm

Lawyers acting for Algerian asylum-seeker Ahmed Zaoui have slammed as "inadequate nonsense" the reasons he is considered a threat to national security.

The lawyers released a summary of allegations produced by the Security Intelligence Service today which included a claim that a tourist video Mr Zaoui took on the way to New Zealand "looked suspiciously like a casing video".

Mr Zaoui has been held in prison for nearly 15 months after he arrived in New Zealand in December, 2002, on a false passport and claimed refugee status.

He was declared a threat to New Zealand security by the SIS in March, 2003, but lawyers have been fighting to get him out of prison, saying he was an innocent man and not a terrorist.

Last year the High Court in Auckland ruled that the SIS must provide his lawyers with a summary of the claims which led to his classification as a security threat.

However, his lawyers said the summary, released to the media today, was inadequate and contained no new evidence against him that had not already been heard and rejected by the Refugee Status Appeal Authority when it granted him refugee status.

In the summary the SIS said a videotape taken by Mr Zaoui as he travelled through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam focused on places which were not obvious tourist sites but which were frequented by westerners, including a tall oil company building, tourist buses and an internet cafe.

However, one of his lawyers, Deborah Manning, said today Mr Zaoui was a less than competent video cameraman and the footage was no more than any tourist would take.

She said the SIS summary containing nothing more than was considered and disposed of by the Refugee Status Appeal Authority.

She said the reasons for classifying him as a security risk were "wholly inadequate and baseless and when boiled down amounts to a fear of how New Zealand's reputation could be affected," Ms Manning said.

She said even though he had been granted refugee status, he faced the prospect of deportation "to torture and death due to fear that New Zealand could be perceived as having a lower regard for security, in other words being a soft touch."

She said when the "sloppy" analysis of Mr Zaoui's threat level by the SIS was compared with the comprehensive decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, it was apparent the certificate classifying him as a threat was "wholly unjustified."

The SIS summary of allegations said an interview with an Arabic-speaking SIS officer produced a security concern relating to an answer Mr Zaoui gave "which cannot be disclosed without compromising classified security information which cannot be divulged".

Ms Manning said the summary also included references to Mr Zaoui's convictions in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

However, she said they also contained nothing new which had not been exhaustively researched for six months by the Refugee Status Appeal Authority.

"They comprehensively found these convictions were unsafe, that Mr Zaoui, to the contrary, was a man who has always advocated peace in Algeria and we are very surprised to see that these allegations form the basis of the security risk certificate," Ms Manning said.

- NZPA

Security Intelligence Service (Jan 27, 2004):

Response to the Summary of Allegations [PDF]

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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