Political Prisoner?
Ahmed Zaoui, a democratically elected (in 1991) MP of Algeria has been in jail in New Zealand for the last 11 months. He seeks asylum from the government that removed the democratically elected government. The trouble is that Lianne Dalzell, the Immigration Minister has received intelligence that is troubling to her, as she has no way of validating it, that brands this professor of theology, and muslim moderate, as a terrorist. He fled his country 10 years ago and Algeria has been bloodied by civil war after a military coup deposed the popularly elected Government.
The branding of terrorist is the new McCarthyism. If someone is Islamic, has a thick beard or turban, the western mind is being conditioned to pre-judge that person. Post 9/11 our fear has placed people under suspicion that normally we would extend a hand to, and help. Humanity benefits by acts of grace. Humanity is harmed when fear takes over.
As a status 'terrorist' is a hard one to prove. When a freshly elected governnment, there as a choice of the people of the land, is deposed by the military, and civil war breaks out, the enemy can now be branded as 'terrorists'. During the cold war they were called "spys" who worked for "smersh" and hunted in fiction by James Bond (and the CIA in reality). Spreading fear and paranoia distorts democracy. We are cowed into selecting leaders prepared to kill with decisive intent.
Now we go after Isalmic extremists. The branding of anyone based on their race or appearance is prejudice. When our government reacts only to the secret whispers of intelligence and not courts of law, we lose our sense of democracy and justice for all.
See also:
NZ Herald - Zaoui - history
New Zealand Herald - He's no terrorist, says Zaoui's wife
8th International Criminal Law Congress 2002, Melborne Australia, The War on Terror vs The Rule of Law
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