The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ), the umbrella national Muslim organisation, is not surprised by this latest attempt by the March 15 terrorist to gain notoriety and in the process milk our justice platforms for hate speech and in an attempt to gain new adherents to their cause of hate.

The March 15 terrorist is shadowing the identical strategy advocated by the Norway terrorist, who appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2018 and lost. Then in February this year the Norway terrorist sought parole in another high-profile case. A similar approach was also taken by the Ottawa mosque terrorist. All this is to have a public platform to continue their hate mongering and deliberately traumatise their victims and the nation. We can expect the March 15 terrorist to do the same by raising further legal issues whilst in prison.

This is rather a blatant and calculated attempt to retraumatise the Christchurch victims specifically and the nation as a whole. This shows that the March 15 terrorist has no remorse. The timing is also no coincidence, given the Coroner’s inquest and other Royal Commission implementation matters.

This is a wake-up call to all politicians. Terrorists can also cause havoc to social cohesion even from prison. The NZ Government spent over $5.9 million on the original court case and his initial remand time in prison, and we know subsequent baseless appeals will cost even more. On the last count, $4,932 per day is being spent on his incarceration and our calculations suggest that NZ taxpayers will have to fork out $93.6 million in the course of the March 15 terrorist’s projected lifetime in our prison system.

But this sad episode is not just about money. Using similar strategies overseas, these terrorists try to divide a nation through normalising hate by raising their hate-filled ideology during court cases.

Whilst we abhor and condemn these sinister abuses of our legal process, we nevertheless affirm the right of everyone to have access to the due process of the law. We request the media and social media platforms to be aware of this strategy and not become a platform for such hatemongers.

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