Posted on 12/09/2004 12:14:42 AM PST by NZerFromHK
Jubilant cheers erupted in the Supreme Court in Wellington today at news Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui will be released on bail tonight.
Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias delivered the court's judgment this afternoon, allowing Mr Zaoui's appeal and granting him bail.
Bail conditions are that Mr Zaoui reside at the Dominican Friary in Newton, Auckland, and be present there between 10pm and 6am.
He must also report to Auckland Central Police Station between 10am and 4pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Supporters inside and outside the court - many wearing T-shirts calling for Mr Zaoui's freedom - cheered at every mention of bail and reacted jubilantly after the court's decision.
Mr Zaoui was not present in court, but was phoned by lawyers Deborah Manning and Rodney Harrison QC immediately after the decision was given.
Ms Manning gave Mr Zaoui the news he had been granted bail and would be going to the friary tonight.
She said she would be on a plane to Auckland soon and would get him from the prison in a few hours.
She told him she had his shirt - which she had picked up from him at the prison and handwashed, ready for today.
Ms Manning said she thought it took a while for the news to sink in with Mr Zaoui but he asked her to thank all his supporters.
Giving the court's decision, Justice Elias said the question for the court was whether it was more appropriate to grant bail or to vary Mr Zaoui's warrant of commitment to enable transfer to the Mangere Refugee Detention Centre.
The Crown no longer opposed a transfer, but did oppose bail.
Justice Elias said bail was the preferable outcome as Mr Zaoui had already been in custody two years and transfer to the Mangere Centre would be a continuation of detention.
The court initially ruled that Mr Zaoui could not be released until undertakings were filed at the Auckland High Court - Mr Zaoui undertaking to comply with his bail conditions and the Dominican Friar, Father Peter Murnane undertaking to notify police if he becomes aware of any breach of bail by Mr Zaoui.
But Mr Zaoui's lawyer Rodney Harrison QC asked that bail be effective immediately, with the undertakings to be filed by 5pm next Wednesday.
This was not opposed by the Crown and was agreed to by the court, meaning Mr Zaoui could be released immediately.
Bail will apply until the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security makes his decision on Mr Zaoui's risk status.
Justice Elias said this review was expected to take a further six to 12 months.
The court said the security risk certificate was directed to risks to national security if Mr Zaoui was allowed to settle in New Zealand, rather than risks that might be posed by his presence in the community while the risks were assessed.
who, in September 2001, was convicted in absentia in a Paris court to a three-year suspended jail term for criminal association and handed an eight-year ban from returning to France.
And now New Zealand's activist judges order him free while his refugee status is being assessed?
Who is Ahmed Zaoui?
09 December 2004
By HANNAH LAWRENCE
Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui was today told he would be released on bail to the Dominican friars after spending two years behind bars.
Two days after his 44th birthday Mr Zaoui got the gift he and his lawyers had fought for, when the Supreme Court in Wellington ruled that he was entitled to bail.
Mr Zaoui is being held at Auckland Central Remand Prison, after a stint in solitary confinement at Auckland's Paremoremo Prison.
A former Algerian MP in an elected government prevented from taking power by a military coup, he arrived in New Zealand on a false passport on December 4, 2002.
He has been held in custody without charge as a "threat to national security" ever since - despite being declared a genuine refugee by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. A national security certificate has been issued against him and the Inspector-General of Security is reviewing the security risk, which could lead to his expulsion from New Zealand.
Mr Zaoui had been a democratically-elected member of the Algerian Islamic Front for Salvation (FIS) in December 1991, but the new government was prevented from taking power in a military coup in January 1992 and he fled to Europe.
He has been accused of being associated with the militant Armed Islamic Group (GIA), but has denied any such involvement.
He was deported from France to Burkina Faso in West Africa. Fearing for his safety, he fled to South Africa and then to Asia.
He then came to New Zealand.
Mr Zaoui's case grabbed the attention of the nation, with mixed opinion as to what should be done with the asylum seeker.
Support for Mr Zaoui has come from all quarters, growing during his time in detention.
A rally was today to be held in Christchurch's Cathedral Square in support of the bail application.
Campaign to Free Ahmed Zaoui spokeswoman Moana Cole said the group's membership was broad ranging, comprising Christians, peace movement people and the Muslim community.
Mr Zaoui's treatment at the hands of our Government as "one of New Zealand's greatest travesties of justice", she said.
"Mr Zaoui is a man of peace and justice and is certainly a gift to the New Zealand people," she said.
Last weekend supporters rallied outside the Auckland Central Remand Prison to mark the second anniversary of Mr Zaoui's imprisonment.
Mr Zaoui shed tears when shown pictures of the rally, his lawyer Deborah Manning said.
She told the crowd she hoped "Mr Zaoui may finally feel the rain on his face, the sun and the wind".
While Ms Manning has been the public face of the support for Mr Zaoui, other New Zealanders have rallied to his cause.
Last month, Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops called for Mr Zaoui to be released on bail into more humane accommodation, pending the results of his deportation case.
They offered him residence with the Dominican friars in Auckland.
The bishops said even though it was not in their capacity to assess matters of national security, they were deeply concerned at the delays in the resolution of Mr Zaoui's situation.
New Zealand musicians, including Dave Dobbyn and Nesian Mystik, last month banded together to raise money for Mr Zaoui's family, who are in hiding in Southeast Asia.
In August, a benefit concert in Wellington included an address from former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves , with Goldenhorse among the bands performing.
Green MP Keith Locke and Progressive Party deputy leader Matt Robson have been persistent critics of Mr Zaoui's detention.
In October the pair hosted the launch of a book about Mr Zaoui's life .
I Almost Forgot About The Moon, written by Selwyn Manning, Yasmine Ryan and Katie Small, is about Mr Zaoui's life and family.
It details his political career in Algeria, why he fled that country and the reasons given by New Zealand authorities for his continued detention.
But not everyone is a supporter of Mr Zaoui.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has said in Parliament Mr Zaoui is a convicted terrorist and should be deported immediately.
In a statement yesterday Mr Peters said the Supreme Court hearing was a constitutional test case.
"This case is bigger than Zaoui. It is a test of our parliamentary sovereignty. We cannot afford a power struggle between an elected government and a group of judges. There is too much at stake."
Mr Zaoui could have been released from detention to leave New Zealand voluntarily any time in the past two years, Mr Peters said.
"Instead, with the help of do-nothing ministers, compulsive do-gooders and limitless legal aid, he deliberately chose to inflict himself on innocent taxpaying New Zealanders to the tune of nearly $2 million," he said.
"This case is not about the rights of an individual under common law. It is about someone from an alien culture with a criminal record who arrived here using deception and trickery and refused to leave."
National Party immigration spokesman Wayne Mapp this year labelled defenders of Mr Zaoui "naive".
"Zaoui is clearly not the innocent refugee he claims and should not be allowed into New Zealand. If he doesn't like our prison system all he needs to do is choose to leave," Dr Mapp said.
Mr Zaoui has said through his lawyers he still has confidence in the New Zealand legal system.
But Ms Manning said prison was taking a mental and physical toll on her client.
At last weekend's rally she read supporters a passage from one of the "24 contemplations" Mr Zaoui had written - to represent the 24 months he had been in jail.
"I discovered during my isolation that people need to be carried away by fictions. They need to be romantic and to dream. Yet they also need to be fully immersed in life, experiencing it in all the fullness of its drama, its colour and suffering.
"Thank you native Kiwis, you have filled my loneliness. I have learned a lot from you. But in case I forget to mention - I need clean air now, because my lungs are fed up with the stale, air-conditioned air of this prison."
Now his long wait is over.
Convicted terrorist runs free in New Zealand ping!
Convicted Algerian terrorist, Ahmed Zaoui, runs free in New Zealand ping!
Ping
Convicted Algerian terrorist runs free in New Zealand ping!
I listened to Radio Pacific this afternoon and the host was bombastic against this decision as well. Many New Zealanders here don't want him to stay here either.
You are not alone - we also have terrorist running free ping!
New Zealand helping terrorists .
There you go. Give the people what they want!
Convicted Algerian terrorist with shoes untied runs free in New Zealand ping!
Just listened to an interview with Father Peter Murnane from the Dominican Friary (available on xtramsn.co.nz)
I assume that the Father is typical of Mr Zaoui's supporters and that they are all just as breathtakingly naive.
Do you still hold out much hope for NZ or do you think it's pretty much game over?
The scary thing is, our leftist Labour government and Dear Helen want to kick Zaoui out whether out of pragmatic political calculation or because they know having a known terrorist in your country is not beneficial, but his supporters and the judges are even more left-wing - Dear Helen is apparently not enough.
It is like there is something Mark Latham wants to stop, but the Bob Browns in public spheres want him to go on. I don't know if this spells game over here yet.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry about New Zealand, perhaps it's time to give the sheep a chance to vote? At least when the wolf comes to the door, the sheep (I hear) slam it closed.
.....but the Bob Browns in public spheres...
Multiple Bob Browns............your going to give me nightmares!
Multiple Bob Browns............your going to give me nightmares!
Yep, that's what our public looks like. Bill and even Hillary Clinton are moderate conservatives, and our elites routinely denounce them from their left. "Bob Brown? Awesome Kiwi-value upholding bloke!"
Even the Sydney Morning Herald can read at times conservative for those of you used to the New Zealand Herald. Our government-owned TV network (with feeds from the BBC, ABC - the Australian one) is actually not as left as the major private TV with the principal news anchor (John Campbell) publicly declaring he's a fan of Noam Chomsky. There is a smaller private TV affiliated with Australia's Channel 9 but again their own news programme is as left-wing as the government channel - I prefer to watch Australian Channel 9 news re-broadcasted on that same channel for intl news.
The general impression I get is that the whole country has drifted way left and that most people there have no idea that this has even happened.
NZ seems to be drifting away somewhere on its own. I personally wouldn't want to be on board.
(2) As a Catholic, this kind of garbage makes me sick to my stomach.
Bail conditions are that Mr Zaoui reside at the Dominican Friary in Newton, Auckland, and be present there between 10pm and 6am.
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