Dr Wayne Mapp MP National Party Immigration Spokesman

24 November 2003

Process must be allowed to take its course

"The concerted campaign in the media to 'free Ahmed Zaoui' is fundamentally misplaced," according to National Party Immigration spokesman Dr Wayne Mapp.

"He is subject to a National Security Certificate, which is based on classified intelligence information.

"It is absolutely preposterous to suggest that this information should be publicly available. If that happens there would be little point in having Western security intelligence services working in cooperation with each other in the full confidence that classified information is able to remain confidential.

"That is why the office of the Inspector General of Intelligence is so important," says Dr Mapp.

"Retired High Court Judge, Justice Greig, should be allowed to get on with his job without the intense pressure that the activists are trying to put him under.

"It is simply wrong to suggest that his comments are a pre-judgment of the issue, when he was merely setting out why, if the National Security Certificate was upheld, Mr Zaoui would be deported.

"Everyone involved in this issue, including Mr Zaoui's lawyers, knows that Justice Greig's decision will determine the issue either way.

"It is time that the proper legal process takes place, rather than an orchestrated campaign, the sole goal of which is to have Mr Zaoui regarded without proper process," Dr Mapp says. Ends

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