Zaoui Backers Ignore Evidence

"Advocates for Ahmed Zaoui, a convicted criminal in France and Belgium, continue to ignore damming evidence and decisions made by respected senior courts in modern western democracies," says National Party Immigration spokesman Wayne Mapp.

"Mr Zaoui's defenders are naive to dismiss decisions by the Belgium Court of Appeal and French Criminal Court.

"The fully argued judgment of the Belgium Court of Appeal is a superior court of a respected western democracy which understands the rule of law. Mr Zaoui's advocates - and especially the Refugee Status Appeal Authority, as a junior judicial body, should not dismiss the findings of a senior court.

"How would New Zealand react if a district court in Australia chose to ignore decisions made by New Zealand's Court of Appeal?

"Contrary to the RSSA, these European courts have made damming findings against Zaoui. The Belgium Court of Appeal heard from both the defendant and prosecution, unlike the RSSA.

The Belgium Court of Appeal made the following remarks: 'That the sentence on Zaoui must take account of the importance of the role played by him at the head of the association of criminals and its activities ... That Zaoui's life and activities thus appear to be surrounded by an unacceptably clandestine atmosphere which is incompatible with the official activities of FIS ... confer on Zaoui an undoubted prestige and a moral authority which have allowed him to assume the role of head or agent of the association that he commands and whose members gravitate around him.'

"All this is in addition to the clear criminal activity that Zaoui has committed in Belgium, France and now New Zealand through the repeated use of forged documents," says Dr Mapp

"These are lightly dismissed by the RSSA as the legitimate act of a refugee. But Zaoui has had a pattern of activity in a number of countries and all concluded he was a security risk. His repeated convictions in western democracies show a pattern of contempt for western law.

"If he were the genuine refugee he claims, why had he continued to engage in this illegal behaviour?

"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 says.

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