Zaoui: the prisoner who's here to stay

By CATHERINE MASTERS

New Zealand may end up having to keep Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui even if the security risk certificate against him is upheld.

New Zealand is hampered by international conventions it has signed and a human rights record it does not want destroyed.

Mr Zaoui sought asylum in New Zealand and has been declared a genuine refugee, but has been locked up for nearly 16 months without charge because of the security risk certificate issued against him on the basis of secret SIS information.

Yesterday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - here on a brief visit - refused to comment on New Zealand's treatment of Mr Zaoui.

Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch Prime Minister, welcomed a new group of relatives of the Tampa refugees to the country.

He also said yesterday that what to do with Mr Zaoui was up to the New Zealand Government.

It was the responsibility of the Government to decide whether to protect him or exclude him on the basis of connections to terrorist or criminal acts.

Mr Lubbers is likely to have discussed Mr Zaoui's case at meetings yesterday with the Minister of Immigration Paul Swain and over dinner with the Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Herald inquiries show New Zealand may not be able to deport Mr Zaoui regardless of the outcome of a review of the security risk certificate.

Mr Zaoui cannot stay in prison forever and New Zealand has only a few options on what it can do with him:

The 'Pacific Solution'

New Zealand could come to a private agreement with another nation, as the Swiss did when they paid the impoverished West African country Burkina Faso to take him.

Australia paid Nauru to take Afghan refugees off the Tampa - could New Zealand pay a poor Pacific nation to take Zaoui?

It seems unlikely.

Because he has been granted refugee status, he can be sent away only if the security risk certificate is upheld.

But if it is upheld then New Zealand would be sending someone considered too dangerous to stay here to an even more vulnerable nation.

Deportation

If the certificate is upheld the Immigration Minister has the right to deport Mr Zaoui who, like most asylum seekers, arrived in New Zealand on false travel documents.

He came to New Zealand from Vietnam, via South Korea and under IATA, the airline trade organisation, he should be able to be returned to Vietnam. But New Zealand is a signatory to various international covenants, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention Against Torture whereas Vietnam is not.

It is widely accepted Mr Zaoui is likely to be tortured or killed if sent back to his homeland, Algeria.

So if New Zealand sent him to Vietnam his safety would not be assured.

Send to a 'safe' country

New Zealand could negotiate with the UNHCR to find a country which would take him and where he would be safe.

But again, it is unlikely another country would agree to take a man that New Zealand considered dangerous.

The Herald asked Immigration Minister Paul Swain to comment on the various options but he did not respond.

Amnesty International's New Zealand director Ced Simpson said if New Zealand breached the international conventions it had signed and harm came to Mr Zaoui it would damage its reputation.

"There has been no reputable person on the public record who has even suggested that he is any sort of threat to security anywhere and so, yes, we would assume that he would be allowed to stay, of course," Mr Simpson said.

Progressive MP Matt Robson said he had heard there had been an investigation of how the Swiss had arranged for Burkina Faso to take him, "but I believe our Government would find that unethical".

He said it was possible Mr Zaoui could be given a temporary permit which would keep getting renewed but prevent his family joining him: "Obviously, it could be used as a weapon to drive him mad."

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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