Zaoui lawyers refuse to discuss 'purported summary' of case

11.45am

Lawyers for Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui are refusing to discuss a "purported summary" they have been given of the Security Intelligence Service case against him.

The SIS was ordered by the High Court last December to provide a summary of their reasons for keeping him in jail and why they considered him a threat to national security.

Zaoui has been held in jail for 14 months since he arrived in the country seeking refugee status.

One of his lawyers Deborah Manning confirmed today they had received a document which she described as "a purported summary".

"We are not discussing it at present.

"We are in correspondence with the ministers concerned and we would like to go down that track."

Ms Manning refused to discuss it further, nor would she say when they would discuss the documents they had received.

The Government has consistently refused to reveal secret details of the SIS case against Mr Zaoui, 43. However, it said it would comply with the ruling of the High Court to release a summary but was appealing a ruling which said his human rights must be taken into consideration.

The Government has also refused to move Mr Zaoui from the Auckland Central Remand Prison to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in south Auckland.

Mr Zaoui, 43, arrived on a false passport but was detained by authorities who suspected him of having terrorist links.

The SIS subsequently issued a certificate declaring he was a "threat to national security," which was rejected by his lawyers who described him as an innocent man.

Yesterday the Government described a report to the International Commission of Jurists as full of inaccuracies.

The report by Auckland lawyer Michael Kidd, said Mr Zaoui's continued detention as "prima facie unlawful".

The report recommended Mr Zaoui's lawyers apply for his release under the common law grounds of habeas corpus, which would require the Government to show why it imprisoned him.

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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