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A woman says her passport was canceled due to unsubstantiated claims about terror plans in Syria. (File photo)
It was eventually revealed that a woman’s New Zealand passport was canceled to prevent her from going to Syria to allegedly facilitate ISIS terrorism.
Very pregnant and in a video conference from her home in Australia, the woman told a Wellington High Court hearing on Tuesday that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Services acted against her as she was about to travel from Wellington to Australia. in April 2016.
His passport was suspended for the first time and then-Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne canceled it shortly after, claiming it posed a danger to Syria’s security.
He said the cancellation was illegal, not based on facts, and those involved acted in bad faith and were negligent.
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Due to the classified security information allegedly involved, a process was devised so that a “special defense” attorney could deal with material that the woman was not allowed to see.
His name was suppressed at least in the meantime. Your case will continue on Thursday, but will be excluded because the information is classified.
In a series of brief references during Tuesday’s hearing, it emerged that in August 2015 the woman had tried to travel from Turkey to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known as Isis.
They took her out of Turkey.
Kevin Stent / Stuff
Attorney Ben Keith was appointed “special counsel” to handle classified matters that the woman could not. (File photo)
When her passport was canceled, the woman sued then-Home Secretary Peter Dunne. In presentations defending Dunne’s decision, a Deputy Attorney General, Aaron Martin, said Dunne also took into account that the woman wanted to contribute technical knowledge and skills to Isis, and share it online.
Special counsel Ben Keith said that some online discussions included expressions of protest, advocacy and dissent that did not presume an intention to facilitate terrorism.
The Suppression of Terrorism Act protected that self-expression, he said.
Between the suspension and cancellation of his passport, he was tagged in official records as “lost.” The woman said she could not be sure now of the circumstances that led to the status being recorded, although authorities said she reported it was lost.
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Judge Robert Dobson said he was frustrated with the “one-sided” process. (File photo)
She said the record of her loss had the effect of canceling her passport so she didn’t have a passport when Dunne allegedly canceled it.
He had dual New Zealand and Australian citizenship and was able to return to Australia.
He told Judge Robert Dobson that he had gone to Australia to resume his professional career and take care of his mother. He had neither the intention nor the possible means to go beyond Australia, he said.
The woman has been told that she can now apply for a new passport, apparently without objection from SIS. But she says that wouldn’t fix the problem that her last passport was incorrectly canceled.
Richard Tindiller / RNZ
Crown attorney Aaron Martin said there were reasonable grounds for canceling the woman’s passport. (File photo)
She said the decision has hurt her, including by using the Australian federal police’s counter-terrorism branch to personally inform her of the cancellation.
Keith described the closed-door court process for information classified as Kafkaesque, excluding the woman from her own case. Even the judge expressed frustration at his one-sided nature.
Dunne had to have reasonable grounds to believe, not just suspect, that the woman intended to facilitate a terrorist act.
The SIS was required to present a balanced and comprehensive case to Dunne, but did not do so, he said. The minister did not receive advice on speech rights or other rights.
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A woman’s New Zealand passport was canceled to prevent her from going to Syria to allegedly facilitate ISIS terrorism.
For the Crown, Martin said that the cancellation of the passport was a civil process and that the woman was not charged with any crime.
Dunne had reasonable grounds to believe that the woman would travel within the next 12 to 36 months to facilitate acts of terrorism, Martin said.
He would discuss them in the closed-door court session on Thursday.
