12 October 2004

Crown to appeal Zaoui case

The Crown will be appealing the Court of Appeal decision Attorney-General v Zaoui.

It is important that the test to be applied by the Director of Security when issuing, and the Inspector-General when reviewing, a security risk certificate is clarified.

The Court of Appeal issued declarations stating that the test of “threat to national security” is a very high one, on the basis of an assumption that if such a certificate was confirmed against Mr Zaoui he would be sent back to face persecution.

It was never the intention of the Crown to return Mr Zaoui to a place of persecution, regardless of the outcome of the review by the Inspector-General. Any decision by the Minister of Immigration would take account of New Zealand’s international obligations, including its obligation not to deport people to places where they face torture.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>