The Refugee Council of New Zealand’s statement
on the imprisonment of Prof. Zaoui
sent to the Minister of Immigration and
the Prime Minister

The Refugee Council of New Zealand is deeply concerned at what amounts to the indefinite detention of Professor Ahmed Zaoui, the Algerian Parliamentarian who has been declared by New Zealand’s Refugee Status Appeals Authority to be a genuine refugee. The treatment met by Professor Zaoui stands in stark contrast to the compassion and understanding demonstrated to the world by New Zealand, when the government decided to take in refugees stranded at sea and rescued by the vessel, the Tampa.

Professor Zaoui’s treatment also flies in the face of all of the liberal and democratic values and traditions for which New Zealand is renowned and which all New Zealanders hold dear. Unlike the United States, which continues to hold persons at Guantanamo Bay without charge and without prospect of release, New Zealand does not have the excuse that Professor Zaoui is not on New Zealand soil, he is being held in the Mount Eden Remand Centre in the middle of Auckland, our largest metropolis.

Almost thirty years ago the Privy Council held that indefinite detention of persons convicted of crimes violated the constitution of Jamaica, a member of the Commonwealth. Recent decisions have reinforced that determination. We are loath to accept that the constitutional principles by which New Zealand abides are any less heedful of human rights and fundamental freedoms than those of any other member of the Commonwealth.

The Council urges the government to summon the courage and conviction needed most when fear abounds, to show the world once again that we are a people of principle and standards. It is time to demonstrate that principle and those standards by granting to Professor Zaoui that freedom the craving for which brought him to our shores.