The man responsible for killing 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosque attacks wants to challenge his strict jail conditions and terrorist status.
The Australian white supremacist is asking the court to review decisions made by the Department of Corrections about his prison conditions, and his designation as a terrorist entity under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
The judicial review will be heard at the High Court in Auckland on Thursday. He will be representing himself.
The gunman was in August jailed for life without parole for the murder of 51 people and attempted murder of 40 at Masjid An Nur and Linwood mosque on March 15, 2019.
Masjid An Nur was one of two Christchurch mosques targeted during a terrorist attack.
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He is the only person to be designated the status of terrorist in New Zealand.
Stuff understands he is fighting the restrictions he has during his life imprisonment, on human rights grounds.
Under the Corrections Act, everyone in custody is entitled to exercise, bedding, a proper diet, one private visitor a week, a legal adviser, medical treatment, healthcare, mail, and telephone calls.
But there are exceptions. Entitlements can be withheld for various reasons including being segregated or in protective custody, health and safety, and because it’s not practicable.
Victims families and the survivor community were notified about the hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
The review has no bearing on the outcome of the criminal case, or the sentence imposed, or on the gunman’s terrorism conviction.
Human rights barrister Tony Ellis told Stuff he was not surprised the gunman was complaining because it was inevitable he was held under harsh conditions.
Human rights barrister Tony Ellis says there is dilemma in trying to keep somebody violent like the gunman safe while restricting his rights in isolation so he doesnt get killed
New Zealand’s Bill of Rights protects against torture and cruel, degrading and excessively severe punishments.
There was a dilemma in trying to keep somebody violent like the terrorist safe while restricting his rights in isolation so he doesnt get killed, Ellis said.
The argument was likely whether the conditions were disproportionately severe, or whether he was treated with inherent dignity or respect.
Under the UNs Mandela rules, a prisoner’s solitary confinement should not exceed 15 days.
Any longer and a prisoner became mentally disturbed.
If its for more than 50 years, hes likely to go mad.
He believed the gunman would need court-appointed legal support in order to make his arguments.
Its a test of our humanity and how we treat somebody like this.
Hes been given a sentence of no hope, which is an anathema to human rights.
In January, RNZ reported that extended segregation of a prisoner could be considered a form of torture under international rules.
It said that Corrections had met with the Ombudsman, who is “designated as one of New Zealand’s National Preventative Mechanisms for Torture” to consult on his management ahead of the terrorist’s sentencing.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier would not comment when contacted by Stuff, since the review was before the court.
The terrorist is managed behind bars at Auckland Prison by members of a group known as the Prisoner of Extreme Risk directorate.
The directorate, created on July 1, 2019, was set up in response to the massacre and looks after the country’s most dangerous inmates.
Corrections national commissioner Rachel Leota previously said it was “made up of staff from a range of disciplines across the organisation, and ensures that we have the best intelligence, information, assessment and planning around the management of offenders who present with significant unique risks, which have the potential to cause significant harm or distress, either directly or indirectly”.
Few other details about the directorate’s work have been revealed, with Corrections redacting information in documents obtained by Stuff because of concerns about divulging “highly sensitive operational detail”.
On Wednesday, Corrections said the prisoner continued to be managed in accordance with our international obligations for the treatment of prisoners.
Our overriding priority is the safety of the public, our staff and the prisoners we manage. In the interests of public safety and operational security, the department will not be providing any comment on the management of this person.
In August last year Nigel Hampton QC said the mosque shooter’s confinement would have to be carefully managed, given the risks of isolation to physical and mental health, including suicide, psychosis, anxiety, depression, fractures, blindness, weakness and weight loss.
It would have to comply with the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, whose governing body recommended against even short-term solitary confinement.
In Norway, Anders Breivik, the killer who murdered 77 people in a car bombing in central Oslo and shooting spree on Utoeya island in 2011, claimed his prison conditions, which included being held in isolation, were worse than the death penalty, and a violation of his human rights.
But his years-long legal battle against his treatment came to an end in 2018, when the European Courts of Human Rights rejected his appeal and said its decision was final.
A spokesman for the Human Rights Commission said the news would inevitably be unsettling for members of the Muslim community, particularly the survivors, whnau and victims of the March 15 attack.
We stand in solidarity with them. Their well-being and safety is of utmost importance to all of us at the Human Rights Commission.
