25 Mar 2019

Spy agency accused of breaching NZ Muslims' rights

From Morning Report, 6:39 am on 25 March 2019

The SIS has been accused of heavy handed and unethical tactics in monitoring the Muslim community. The Human Rights Foundation has released research to RNZ on surveillance to back its call for an open inquiry into security service actions before the Christchurch terror attacks. It began research in 2017 after Muslims raised concerns with it about the SIS and about how Customs treated arrivals at Auckland airport. The foundation then held a dozen closed-door meeting with government agencies. One of the researchers Faisal Al-Asaad says he spoke to perhaps 10 men invited to informal chats in cafes with the SIS, only to have hard questions sprung on them The SIS says it in this case it 'cannot comment on the operational questions' posed by RNZ.