Zaoui lawyer seeks answers from PM

Ahmed Zaoui

Ahmed Zaoui's lawyer, Deborah Manning, has urgently pressed Prime Minister Helen Clark for information about an apparent SIS operation to get the Muslim community to pass on information about her client.

Ms Manning said 20 to 40 members of the North African community living in New Zealand, mainly from Algeria, had been quizzed up to a fortnight ago by SIS officers on what they knew of the Algerian refugee.

They were being asked whether they knew Mr Zaoui and in some cases if he had killed people in Algeria, she said.

"Even the Algerians have not accused him of such activities."

Ms Manning faxed Helen Clark, the minister in charge of the Security Intelligence Service, urgently requesting information about what was going on and what procedures the agents had followed.

That included whether those interviewed were advised of their rights, how the interviews were arranged and recorded, and whether they were offered a copy of the interview.

Ms Manning said some of the Muslims had been intimidated because they were applying for residency or citizenship and feared that any perceived lack of co-operation could count against them.

"These are very frightened people who have come forward."

She had heard that two police cars were stationed outside a Muslim man's house as an intelligence officer parked in the driveway.

The SIS was acting like a "shadow police force", she said. "It seems so contrary to the New Zealand I know, the free society."

Ms Manning had sent a fax to the Ponsonby mosque where news had been spreading of the interviews, outlining its members' rights, including that they could choose not to answer the questions and they could have a lawyer present.

Ms Manning said Mr Zaoui was waiting for a Supreme Court decision on whether broader human rights issues must be considered in a review of the issuing of his security risk certificate.

It was not the first time SIS activities had been timed around upcoming decisions in his case.

Ms Manning doubted the interviews were some sort of hoax as the officers had detailed information about those they were talking to.

The Sunday Star-Times reported yesterday that it had sworn statements from three Muslim refugees who had felt afraid during the lengthy interviews.

One said he was told to tell no one of the visit, and some were asked whether Mr Zaoui's FIS party had any formal structure in New Zealand, the newspaper said.

The Green Party's human rights spokesman, Keith Locke, said the SIS case against Mr Zaoui must be weak if agents had to go trawling among his friends to get dirt on him.

"It seems the SIS is willing to do anything, including intimidate vulnerable refugees and trample on proper interviewing process, in a desperate effort to find some evidence against Mr Zaoui."

Mr Locke said the Green Party would complain to Helen Clark about the "underhand SIS tactics".

A spokeswoman for Helen Clark said Ms Manning's request was being dealt with under the Official Information Act and she should receive a reply within 21 working days.

She said members of the public were under no obligation to talk to SIS officers.