Teen asylum seekers in prison after interview

By ANNE BESTON

Two young men from the second group of Tampa boat people have been taken to Mt Eden Prison for "security reasons".

Immigration officials would not elaborate on the reasons for detaining the two youths from the final wave of 61 asylum-seekers who arrived at Auckland Airport on Thursday night.

The two youths, one aged 16 and the other 17, were in the prison's remand wing yesterday. There is a unit in the wing that deals with psychiatric and criminal assessments.

The teenagers were taken to Mt Eden after being interviewed by the Immigration Service's Border and Investigation Branch on arrival from Nauru.

Further investigations would be made by the service, said spokesman Ian Smith.

The rest of the group were taken to Mangere's Refugee Resettlement Centre.

Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel confirmed that security concerns emerged during interviews with the two youths.

She had received no advice on whether they had terrorist links.

"I guess we are taking a precautionary approach.

"Obviously there will be further investigations made and further interviews before any sort of decision is made."

Ms Dalziel said people involved in "certain activities" were excluded from claiming refugee status.

Those people would then usually be removed from New Zealand.

Asked whether New Zealand would send them back to Afghanistan, Ms Dalziel said: "The other option is if we can't get documentation in order for them to be removed, they would actually be held in detention until such time as they could be removed, which could be indefinite."

That would have to be agreed to by a district court judge, she said.

A high number of young men without family or relatives are among the asylum-seekers.

They include three 14-year-olds and 16 aged 17.

That would present special problems, said Peter Cotton of the Refugee and Migrant Service, an independent body which helps with resettlement of refugees in New Zealand.

"It's a big number. New Zealand hasn't really taken unaccompanied minors as part of its refugee programme and it's always a challenge."

Mr Cotton said the events in the United States and the volatile situation in Afghanistan would be further trauma for the young men, who had already had a harrowing ordeal in getting here and would now be worried about families left behind.

Dr Nagalingam Rasalingam of the Auckland Refugee Council was due to visit the two young men today.

"We want to be of some help and find out whether they have had proper legal advice."

Dr Rasalingam said that being questioned after their arrival in New Zealand would have been difficult after what they had already gone through.

Mr Smith said the arrest would not affect the youths' claim for refugee status.

He also said that two children from the group taken to hospital after their arrival were now back at the refugee centre.

The 131 asylum-seekers now in New Zealand were among the 433 mainly Afghan refugees who fled their country more than four months ago.

They had hoped to get to Australia aboard an Indonesian ferry but the boat sank and they were picked up by the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa.

Refused entry to Australia, their plight caused an international outcry until New Zealand and Nauru offered help.