Conditions put on freed supremacist

White supremacist Philip Neville Arps is being freed on electronic monitoring with strict release conditions.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll granted permission for additional release conditions to be imposed on Arps in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.

Those conditions include having Arps, 45, electronically monitored, banned from certain areas, prohibited from entering or going near any mosque, and barred from having or using firearms, including air rifles. A request from the Department of Corrections to impose a condition requiring Arps’ choice of work to be approved by a probation officer was denied.

Arps was sentenced to 21 months’ jail in June after being found guilty of two charges of distributing an objectionable publication. He admitted he sent the video of the March 15 terror attack to 30 people, and asked a friend to modify it by adding cross-hairs and a ‘‘kill count’’.

Corrections suggested a range of additional conditions to be imposed upon Arps’ release after letters and phone calls composed by Arps from prison sparked concern. The content of those calls and letters was discussed in detail in court, but Judge Stephen O’Driscoll suppressed those details from being published.

Corrections’ high-risk response team service manager Christina Wilson told the court the contents of Arps’ letters and phone calls led her to believe he hates the Muslim religion and that he might try to incite others to engage in threatening behaviour.