Ahmed Zaoui

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Ahmed Zaoui (Arabic:أحمد الزاوي) is an Algerian member of the Islamic Salvation Front who was convicted on terrorism-related charges in Belgium and France. He arrived in New Zealand on 4 December 2002 where he sought refugee status.

Contents

[edit] Background

[edit] Pre 1991

Ahmed Zaoui was born as one of ten children in El Iridissia, in Djelfa Wilaya, and was the son of a Sunni Muslim Iman. His family moved to the town of Medéa when he was young, and after completing high school, he enrolled in Mohamed Ibnsaoud University, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between the years of 1980 and 1985, gaining a Bachelor of Arts. He became engaged and married to an Algerian woman during this time. After returning, he took postgraduate studies at the University of Algiers and gained a position as an Imam, and as an associate professor of theology at the University of Algiers.

[edit] 1991-2000: Algeria and Europe

In 1991, Algeria held its first multiparty elections since independence. Ahmed Zaoui stood as a candidate for the Islamic Salvation Front or FIS. However, the government cancelled 1991 elections after the first round results showed that the FIS would win, citing fears that the Islamist party would end democracy. When the government then banned the FIS and arrested thousands of its members, Islamist guerrillas rapidly emerged and began an armed campaign against the government and its supporters which became the Algerian Civil War.

In 1993, Zaoui fled to Europe. He was tried and convicted in absentia by the Algerian government and was convicted of "establishing a terrorist organisation to destabilise state institutions and terrorise the population" and for "plotting against the state, criminal conspiracy, inciting armed rebellion and assassinations and destruction of property" in May 1996, and February 1997, respectively. Both convictions carry sentences of life imprisonment.[1] Disputing the reports from Interpol as incomplete, Zaoui claimed and the RSAA found that there were six life sentences against him, as well as two death sentences. [2] Human rights groups have criticised the Algerian trials for contravening basic norms of justice. [3]

In March 1994, Belgium charged him with being "the instigator or the head of a criminal organisation" and two charges of using false passports. He was acquitted at his first trial but was convicted on appeal and received a four-year suspended sentence [4].

While still under a Belgian home detention order which limited his movements to the street he lived on, he travelled illegally to Switzerland. The Swiss authorities refused his request for asylum due to his ongoing political activities, and made a deal with Burkina Faso to deport Zaoui and his family there, while still providing Zaoui with a 1500 Swiss franc monthly allowance [5].

[edit] 2000-2002: Travel to Asia then New Zealand

Zaoui left Burkina Faso and travelled to Malaysia with his family in 2000. He engaged in political activity with the FIS in exile.

In 2001 France convicted him in absentia for "participation in a criminal group with a view to preparing terrorist acts".

Mr Zaoui decided to leave Malaysia shortly after it was visited by the head of the Algerian police services, on what was claimed as an investigation of Malaysian policing methods. In December 2002 he arrived in New Zealand travelling through Vietnam on a false South African passport and requested refugee status.

[edit] Imprisonment in New Zealand

Mr Zaoui arrived in New Zealand on December 2nd of 2002 having attempted to destroy a false South African passport en route, and applied for refugee status. Although his identity was initially secret, his name was illegally leaked to the media, and he became the subject of political debate and media scrutiny.

His initial application for refugee status by the Refugee Status Board was declined. Although he was recognised as having a well founded fear of persecution, he was excluded as the Board held there were serious reasons to believe he has committed serious criminal or terrorist activities, primarily on evidence given by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.

The SIS issued a Security Risk Certificate in March of 2003. Mr Zaoui then requested a review of the certificate. While not made public at the time, in February 2004 the High Court ordered the SIS to release summary of its allegations to Zaoui's lawyers, who then released it to the media. The summary excluded classified information which the SIS was not required to disclose. [6] Zaoui's lawyers issued a point-by-point response to the summary. [7]

After his arrest, he was initially confined for ten months in the maximum security Paremoremo prison where he was placed on a "non-association regime". While Zaoui and his supporters' have characterised this as being in solitary confinement; this was dismissed as a ‘myth" by the Department of Corrections. However, in October 2003 his case was reviewed, and citing the "likely length of time before legal proceedings conclude", the Department of Corrections transferred him to the medium security Auckland Remand Prison where he was placed on a ‘normal association regime" [8].

In August 2003 the Refugee Status Appeals Authority declared both his Belgian and French trials to be "unsafe" and granted Zaoui refugee status. Commenting on the information available to them in order to evaluate Zaoui's claim, the RSAA stated that they "...were surprised at how limited it was and the questionable nature of some of the contents" and that "...it does not provide evidence that he has committed, directed or participated in any act of violence or terrorism that would require his being excluded under Article 1F from the protection of the Refugee Convention." [9]

In September 2004, Prime Minister Helen Clark's office stated that Zaoui had links to al Qaeda, but Clark later withdrew the claim, saying that her "office had probably gone too far in making the link" [10].

On 20 October 2004, many of his supporters participated in a launch of a biographical book in the Beehive foyer in Wellington.

[edit] Bail

On 9 December 2004 the Supreme Court of New Zealand granted Zaoui bail. Despite Crown opposition, the Court allowed him to reside in the Dominican Priory in central Auckland. He must report to the Police twice a week and must spend each night in the Friary between 10pm and 6am.

In October 2005 Zaoui published Migrant Birds, ISBN 1-877333-36-0, a book of 24 poems he wrote as a response to being imprisoned. The poems are in Arabic and English. A 25th poem, He will come back, the one I'm waiting for, was called the most important New Zealand poem of 2004 by Emma Neale, editor of Best New Zealand Poems 2004. [11]

[edit] Prospects

He has been granted refugee status, but several legal processes remain before he is either completely freed or deported.

Zaoui has a wife and four children, who are currently in Southeast Asia and who will join him in New Zealand if the security risk certificate is lifted and he is allowed to remain in New Zealand. An application for them to come to New Zealand was lodged in late 2006, but on 8 February 2007, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said it would not be appropriate for them to come to New Zealand while Zaoui's security risk certificate review is being determined.[12]

At the November 2004 Supreme Court hearing, the Solicitor-General made it clear that if the security risk certificate should be confirmed and relied on by the Minister, Mr Zaoui would not be deported to a country where he would face persecution as that would contravene the Convention Against Torture.

On 29 September 2005 a referendum was held in Algeria which resulted in the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, and gave amnesty to those jailed and convicted during the civil war.[13]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Refugee Appeal No 74540, Refugee Status Appeals Authority, page 79-81
  2. ^ Refugee Appeal No 74540, Refugee Status Appeals Authority, page 2
  3. ^ Ahmed Zaoui: Freedom or Fair Trial, Amnesty International New Zealand
  4. ^ Tracing Ahmed Zaoui's trial in Belgium, Catherine Field, New Zealand Herald, 24.04.2004
  5. ^ No refuge for a refugee, Catherine Masters, New Zealand Herald, 01.03.2003
  6. ^ Why Zaoui is being kept in prison - a summary, New Zealand Herald, 23.02.2004
  7. ^ Submission to the Prime Minister... in light of "Summary of Allegations and Reasoning" provided by the Director of Security on 27 January 2004, Dr Rodney Harrison QC, Richard McLeod & Deborah Manning, 16.02.2004
  8. ^ Ahmed Zaoui transferred to ACRP following management plan review, Corrections Department NZ Press Release, 16 October 2003
  9. ^ Refugee Appeal No 74540, Refugee Status Appeals Authority, page 208
  10. ^ PM can't back up al Qaeda claim, Ruth Berry and Catherine Masters, New Zealand Herald, 21.09.2004
  11. ^ Best New Zealand Poems 2004: Introduction, Emma Neale, International Institute of Modern Letters, March 2005
  12. ^ "Zaoui's family refused entry to NZ".
  13. ^ Algerian voters back peace plan, BBC, 30.09.2005
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