Probe wanted into refugee snatching allegations
HUMAN RIGHTS groups and Opposition parties are calling on the Government to launch a thorough investigation into the fate of Saudi Arabian refugees who may have been returned home under duress after converting to Christianity.
The Refugee Council of New Zealand said it was ‘‘seriously concerned’’ by revelations in last weekend’s Sunday Star-Times and would be working with Amnesty International to formally raise the issue with senior Government officials.
The council said any asylumseeker who was experiencing threats or pressure should contact it confidentially through numbers on its website.
‘‘If any agents of a foreign government or other group were making attempts to threaten, pressure or abduct any asylum claimant, this would be an international incident of the most serious proportions,’’ spokesman Gary Poole said.
The Star-Times revealed that friends of two Saudi men, one in
How the news was broken in last week’s Sunday Star-Times. Christchurch and the other in Auckland, believed they had been forced to leave New Zealand against their will.
The Auckland man’s lawyer, Roger Chambers, said his client was snatched off the street by three men just days before his refugee interview, taken to Auckland Airport and flown home.
Chambers said the man had since made contact with friends, saying he had been threatened with beheading.
Meanwhile, friends of Christchurch man Khalid Alzahrani contacted police after he suddenly disappeared from his Redwood flat this month. He was last seen in the company of two Middle Eastern men and friends say he too feared being kidnapped.
Police are satisfied Alzahrani left the country voluntarily, but have made inquiries through Interpol to check on his welfare. The StarTimes understands he was seen on CCTV footage with another man at Christchurch airport, but police have not identified that person.
The Saudi consul-general, Ahmed Al-Johani, said Alzahrani had ‘‘insisted’’ on returning home to see his mother and the consulate had provided his air ticket. He had ‘‘arrived safely to his family’’.
In another emailed statement last week, Al-Johani said the Saudi government was ‘‘highly concerned’’ about the safety and security of its citizens, whether inside or outside the country.
Labour’s Phil Goff has written to Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse and Police Minister Anne Tolley asking what follow-up action officials had taken to get to the bottom of what happened.
Woodhouse and then-Ethnic Affairs Minister Judith Collins refused to comment, saying it was a matter for police. Tolley said police ‘‘have not raised any concerns about issues such as these’’.
Green Party immigration spokeswoman Jan Logie said she suspected police and immigration staff did not always fully understand the risks to asylumseekers, and they needed more training.