One year ago, Ahmed Zaoui was granted refugee status, yet he remains in prison. No charges have been laid against him, and he is held purely on the basis of secret information which neither he nor his lawyers have seen. This is New Zealand’s Guantanamo Bay.

Join us at 3.30pm, August 7, 2004 at the Cityside Baptist Church, 8 Mt Eden Road, Auckland, for a uniquely kiwi event to mark the one year anniversary of the decision by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority to grant Mr Zaoui refugee status.

At 4.30 pm, there will be a candlelit procession to the prison, where Mr Zaoui will be presented with a taonga to welcome him to our nation.

Featuring performances from Don McGlashan, one of NZ's finest songwriters, New Zealand poet Riemke Ensing, and New Zealand children from a range of different countries.

All people are welcome. Show Mr Zaoui that New Zealand may be a small nation, but has a big heart.

This event is being organised by a group of concerned students from Auckland University and AUT.

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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>>