Zaoui's lawyers urge bail

Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui could rot in jail for another year unless the Supreme Court grants him bail, his lawyers say.

In only the second case heard by the new court, Mr Zaoui's lawyers yesterday asked Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias and her fellow judges to overturn the Court of Appeal's majority decision to deny Mr Zaoui bail.

Rodney Harrison QC said delays caused by the Crown meant Mr Zaoui, already detained without charge for almost two years, faced another year in jail before a much-delayed review of his security status was finished.

Mr Harrison claimed the Crown was saying that, no matter how undeserved or prolonged Mr Zaoui's detention was, the courts were powerless to intervene because of a security risk certificate issued by the Security Intelligence Service.

He urged the judges to grant Mr Zaoui bail or a transfer from Auckland Central Remand Prison to the Mangere Refugee Centre.

Mr Zaoui, a former Algerian MP in an elected government overthrown in a military coup, has been held as a "threat to national security" since he arrived in New Zealand in December 2002, despite being declared a genuine refugee by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. Yesterday's hearing was an appeal against a Court of Appeal decision in September that his detention was legal and not in breach of the Bill of Rights Act.

The Supreme Court has also been asked to hear a Crown appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that Mr Zaoui's human rights should be considered when the security certificate is reviewed. The judges have yet to decide whether to hear that case.


Solicitor-General Terence Arnold QC will give the Crown's arguments today.

- NZPA


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