Passport case terror fears ‘not genuine’

More than five years after her passport was cancelled, a woman is continuing her fight against the grounds and process used to cancel it.

‘‘It was not a genuine case against me, that is what I believe, and what the evidential records show,’’ she told a Court of Appeal hearing by video link to Wellington yesterday.

But, as with the many hearings about her case, she still did not know the full evidence against her, and the reasons for the cancellation, because they were said to be classified information. Her identity was suppressed.

In a process developed for her case, the High Court appointed a lawyer with security clearance to act as ‘‘special advocate’’ challenging evidence and submissions only heard in closed court.

The Crown lawyer, Aaron Martin, faced repeated questions from the three judges about the adequacy of the information for making the cancellation decision. He said it was ‘‘fit for purpose’’.

The woman’s passport was cancelled in 2016 because the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Peter Dunne, thought reasonable grounds existed to believe she was a danger to Syria by intending to facilitate a terrorist act.

The minister was told that she had been detained on the TurkeySyria border on suspicion of attempting to enter Syria, marry a fighter from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and support Isis.

The woman said the decision to cancel her passport was made negligently, in bad faith, and unfairly, and she wanted it overturned and damages awarded. She appealed the High Court decision dismissing her claim.

The special advocate, Ben Keith, said the grounds for cancelling the passport needed to focus on the intended act of facilitation by the individual, but the information against the woman did not do this.

The woman told the Court of Appeal she was an Australian citizen and had been working in the United Arab Emirates. She never intended, or used, her passport to travel to Syria, or engage in any kind of terrorist attack.

She eventually arrived back in New Zealand, and the SIS raided her hotel room. She thought the SIS was ridiculous asking questions about getting married overseas to an Isis fighter. She then went to Australia to look after her parents.

The High Court decision of October 2020 noted that her New Zealand passport was cancelled for 12 months, and since December 2017 she had been able to apply for a new passport but had not.

For the Crown, Martin defended the adequacy of the information the minister received about the woman. It met and exceeded the standard for a conclusion that the woman intended to facilitate a terrorist act, he said.