Ahmed Zaoui

Ahmed Zaoui was born as one of ten children in El Idrissia, in Djelfa Wilaya, Algeria, and was the son of a Sunni Muslim imam. His family moved to the town of Médéa when he was young, and after completing high school, he enrolled in Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic 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.

In 1991, Algeria held its first multiparty elections since independence. Ahmed Zaoui stood as a candidate for the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut 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.[4] Disputing the reports from Interpol as incomplete, Zaoui claimed and the New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority (RSAA) found that there were six life sentences against him, as well as two death sentences.[5] Human rights groups have criticised the Algerian trials for contravening basic norms of justice.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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".

During his time in Malaysia, the head of the Algerian police services visited to observe Malaysian policing methods. Zaoui believed that this was a pretext, that the real reason was his presence in Malaysia, and that the Malaysian authorities were preparing to detain him.[9] He decided to leave Malaysia, and on 2 December 2002 he arrived in New Zealand via Vietnam on a fake South African passport.

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."[13]

The case attracted considerable media and political attention. The New Zealand Government defended the treatment of Zaoui, and maintained they had information that he was a credible risk. 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".[14] The New Zealand First Party attacked Mr Zaoui's claim to asylum, while the Greens challenged the processes that saw him imprisoned and at risk of deportation.

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

In October 2005 Zaoui published Migrant Birds, 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.[15]

His case received attention from a number of celebrities and prominent New Zealanders. He was featured in the music video for Dave Dobbyn's Welcome Home, and also appeared on stage with Dobbyn when the song was performed at the New Zealand Music Awards.

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 was required to report to the police twice a week and spend each night in the priory between 10pm and 6am.

On 13 September 2007, the head of the Security Intelligence Service, Dr Warren Tucker, withdrew the security risk certificate against Zaoui citing three main reasons:

1. Mr Zaoui's cooperation in providing information to the authorities.
2. Additional classified information which showed that his associates were involved in terrorism, but not Zaoui himself.
3. The length of time he has been in New Zealand, and the length of time which has passed from the offences he was convicted of.

The withdrawal of the security risk certificate means that the New Zealand Government has withdrawn its security objections to his refugee status, which was confirmed by the RSAA in August 2003. Zaoui was "thrilled and delighted," and stated that he was "...happy not just because my name has been cleared but because the whole system of security risk certificates can now be reviewed."[3]