Zaoui cost hits $247,000 and climbing

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

The cost of keeping Ahmed Zaoui in jail is around $247,000, and the bill is still rising.

His legal aid bill alone has topped $170,000, with more court battles looming in his fight to be released from jail, accepted as a refugee and not removed from NZ as a security threat.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain told Parliament yesterday that it was estimated $247,000 had been spent on Mr Zaoui's refugee status hearing, keeping him in jail and on legal aid.

Those costs exclude legal aid bills still expected for the recent High Court judicial review, which has stopped former Inspector-General of the SIS Laurie Greig from assessing a national security risk certificate issued against Mr Zaoui because of a perception of bias.

Other costs not yet available include the Crown Law Office's legal costs for court cases contested so far or still pending between Mr Zaoui and the Government.

Mr Zaoui, an Algerian politician, arrived in New Zealand in December 2002 and claimed asylum. He was detained as a suspected terrorist, and remains in prison 16 months later after the SIS last year recommended a risk certificate be issued against him, saying he posed a threat to national security.

The validity of the detention and the SIS allegations are being challenged by Mr Zaoui, who was last year declared a genuine refugee by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.

Mr Swain was asked yesterday in Parliament by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters how much it was costing to keep Mr Zaoui here.

A breakdown of the $247,000 estimate given by Mr Swain was later given to the Herald by his office. It included legal aid of $174,413, his refugee status claim costs of $16,305 and imprisonment costs of about $57,000, exclusive of GST and Corrections Department overheads.

Mr Peters said in Parliament that Mr Zaoui should never have got into the country and had been refused entry to other countries because of suspicions he had terrorist links.

United Future MP Marc Alexander repeated his suggestion for ending Mr Zaoui's detention, by placing him in the 24-hour care of a sympathetic MP such as the Greens' Keith Locke.

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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