Amir Mohebbi, the last of the Iranian refugees detained without trial for refusing to allow himself to be deported back to persecution and death, has finally been freed. Mohebbi - a convert to Christianity - had spent almost 4 years in prison after refusing to apply for the Iranian passport which would have allowed him to be deported. That's four years imprisonment without charge, trial, or conviction, essentially detained at the pleasure of the Minister. It was wrong, obscene even, and I'm glad a court has finally recognised this and ordered his release.
Now that the iranian 5 are out of jail, its time we looked seriously at how to deal with Christian converts fleeing Iran. The UN does not recognise that the persecution there is sufficient to automatically result in a grant of refugee status. However, many western countries - the UK, Belgium, Canada, Holland, even Australia do. These countries will not deport people back to a risk of persecution in Iran, and its time we joined them.
It's also time to reconsider the practice of indefinite immigration detention as a measure to coerce "voluntary" deportation. By any serious measure, this system has failed; in the last year, only two of the fourteen detained under it were deported, the rest ultimately being released by the courts after their detention dragged on for too long. Unfortunately, with Winston and the National Party waging the usual xenophobic bidding war on being "tough on immigration", the government seems fully committed to retaining and continuing to use this hugely expensive system of pointless sadism, and has included it in its new Immigration Bill. However, despite changes to make it even more vicious, it seems unlikely to be any more effective; New Zealand judges will not allow people to be detained indefinitely for no useful purpose, and the government should accept that.
