14 February 2013

Tame Iti’s parole means he can start to move on

The decision by the Parole Board to grant parole to Tame Iti following 9 months in prison further demonstrates that the entire process has been a waste of taxpayer money, the Green Party said today.

“Mr Iti should never have been sentenced to prison in the first place, and his release today by the Parole Board shows that he never actually posed a threat to the community,” said Green Party justice spokesperson David Clendon.

“The sentences given to Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara were at the harsh end of the scale. They can rightly feel they were punished more for the serious charges that the Crown failed to prove, than for those they were eventually convicted of.

“The community of Ruatoki and others caught up in this excessive use of police and government powers are still waiting for an apology five and a half years on. The Crown should now take this opportunity to apologise and allow Mr Iti and others to move on with their lives,” Mr Clendon said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

World Refugee Day:
Are We Doing Our Bit?

On World Refugee Day, Thursday June 20th, Doing Our Bit will officially launch a campaign to double New Zealand’s UNHCR Refugee Resettlement Quota...

New Zealand’s low refugee intake is not a new issue. In February a NZ Herald editorial commented that our intake was ‘paltry’, remarking that ‘surely we could do more’. In April, Amnesty International described the quota as ‘tiny'.

“Despite being a small country in the middle of the South Pacific, New Zealand prides itself on being hospitable. We are friendly to overseas visitors and we see ourselves as punching above our weight in international affairs,” said Murdoch Stephens, coordinator of Doing Our Bit.

“However, in terms of accepting refugees New Zealand is clearly not doing our share.” More>>