Justice

Burgatre report on Zaoui

By Ant / 10 July 2003

By François Burgatre : Thursday 10th July 2003

REPORT – AHMED ZAOUI

I have been asked to prepare an expert report on Mr Ahmed Zaoui. I am advised that Mr Zaoui is presently seeking asylum in New Zealand and that he is detained in a maximum security prison in New Zealand on security grounds.

Qualifications

I hold the following qualifications:

1. D.E.S. in public law.

2. D.E.A. Urban studies.

3. Doctorat d’Etat (Public law) University of Grenoble II (1981).

Current Positions

I am a full time researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Since 09 1997 I work for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Director of the French Center for Archaeology and Social Sciences in Sanaa (Yemen).

Previous Positions

I have worked in the following capacities

1. Assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Constantine, Algeria, 1973 – 1980.

2. Assistant professor at the Institut d’Etudes politiques, University of Grenoble, Septembre 1980 – June 1982.

3. Chargé de recherches at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) (from the first of January 1982 ) and based at the Institut de recherches et d’études sur le monde arabe et musulman (IREMAM) d’Aix en provence (1982-1988).

4. Centre d’études et de documentation juridique, économique et sociale (CEDEJ) Le Caire (1989-1994).

5. IREMAM (from January 1994) and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de l’Université d’Aix en Provence. Chargé de cours for the Arab World option of the « Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies » of comparative political science , Institut d’études politiques d’Aix en Provence.

6. French Center for Yemeni Studies, French Center for Archaelogy and Social Sciences (Sanaa) , 1 October 1997 (Director).

Main Publications

I have compiled the following publications:

1. Articles in journals or chapters in books dealing with political or ideological developments and especially Islamic Movements in contemporary Arab world.

2. Les Villages socialistes de la révolution agraire , Paris, Editions du CNRS, 1984 (en coll. avec M. Nancy).

3. L’Islamisme au Maghreb : la voix du Sud , Paris, Karthala 1988 and updated version, Payot (Bibliothèque de Poche), Paris 1995.

4. Al Islam al siyassi : sawt al-jenûb , Cairo, Dar al ‘alam al thalith, November 1992. (updated Arabic translation). Updated edition in 1997.

5. The Islamic Movement in North Africa (translated by William Dowell), University of Texas Press at Austin, 1993 (updated English translation) 1997 (updated edition).

6. Il Fondamentalismo islamico , SEI, Torino, 1995 (updated Italian translation)

7. L’Islamisme en face , Paris , La Découverte, 1995 ; updated paperback version , Paris, La Découverte, 1996 (Coll. Poche), 2003 (updated third edition).

8. El Islamismo cara a cara , Bellaterra, Barcelona, 1996 (Spanish translation).

9. Modernizing Islam : Religion in the Public Sphere in Europe and the Middle East John Esposito, François Burgat (dir), Hurst and Company, London, novembre 2002, 278 p.

10. Face to face with political islam, Tauris, Oxford, novembre 2002, (Updated edition of L’Islamisme en face).

11. La Libye , PUF, Paris, (Poche Que sais-je?), 1996, 2000, 2003.

I have been a visiting Lecturer at the following Universities and Research or Cultural Centers:

Universities

Un d’Amsterdam, UN d’Arizona (Tucson), Un de Bar-Ilan (Jérusalem), Un de Barcelone, Un de Benghazi (Libye), Un de Bergen (Norvège), U de Boston (USA), U de Bruxelles, American University in Cairo (Egypte), U of Columbia (School of International and Public Affairs, NY, USA) U de Copenhague (Danemark), U de Grenade (Espagne), Harvard U. (USA), U d’Helsinki (Finlande), U Hébraïque de Jérusalem, U de Tel-Aviv (Israel), U de Joensu (Finlande), U Islamique de Khartoum (Soudan), U de Kuala Lumpur (Malaisie), U du Caire (Egypte), U de Liège, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgique), U de Madrid (Espagne), U de Mafraq (Jordanie), U of Oklahoma, U de Montréal, U Mac-Gill (Canada), U d’Oslo (Norvège), U de Pennsylvanie (Philadelphie), U de Sanaa (Yémen), U Tampere (Finlande), U Tel Aviv (Israel), U of Texas (Austin), U de Tokyo, U de Téhéran, U Santiago du Chili (Chili), U de Bir-Zeit and Naplouse, (Palestine) etc

Research Centers and other Cultural Institutions

L’Académie des sciences de l’URSS (Moscou, Institut d’Etudes Africaines), l’American Research Center in Egypt, l’Association des parlementaires de l’OTAN (Lisbonne) , l’Association parlementaire euro-arabe (E A U Dubaï), l’Agence espagnole de coopération internationale (Madrid) , le Centre d’étude sur les migrations internationales (Paris), le Centre de documentation Tunisie-Maghreb (Tunisie), le Centre d’études stratégiques d’Al-Ahram (Le Caire), theCentre Français d’Etudes Yéménites (Sanaa), the CHEAM-FNSP (Paris), the Collège Royal de Défense (Bruxelles), Commissariat d’Etat au Plan (Commission Nord-Sud), la Délégation aux affaires stratégiques (Paris) , l’Ecole Polytechnique (Paris), la Fondation Bouabid (Rabat), la Fondation Agnelli (Turin), la Fondation des Etudes de Défense (Paris), la Ford Foundation (Le Caire), le Fonds d’Action Sociale (Paris), la Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, le Groupement d’études et de recherches sur la Méditerranée (Casablanca), l’Institut pour la Paix (Tampere, Finland), le Japanese Institute of Middle Eastern Economies, l’Institut Français d’Etudes Arabes de Damas (IFEAD, Damas), la Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Nord-Sud-Exports Consultants (Paris), la London School of Economics, la Multinational Force and Observers (MFO-Sinaï), la North South Coalition (Oslo), l’Ordre des Comboniens (Le Caire), le Parlement Européen (Commission culturelle, Bruxelles), la Royal United Service Organisation (Londres), Shasha Institute (Jérusalem), la School of Oriental and African Studies (Londres), le Secrétariat des relations avec l’Islam (Paris), le Social Science Research Council (Oxford), la United Association for Studies and Research (Virginia), le World Affairs Council (Amman) the Middle Eastern Studies Center de l’Université d’Amman, le King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (Riad, Arabie Saoudite) the World Economic Forum (Davos in New York), Centre islamique de Buenos-Aires (Argentine), le National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage (Doha, Qatar), the Norwegian Institute for International Studies (NUPI, Oslo) etc.

The frame of my analysis of the political situation in Algeria and details on the 1990 2003 crisis and, among other issues, the different levels of responsability for violence can be found in my article, “The Islamic movement in North Africa”, University of Texas Press, Austin sd edition 1997, and in my article, “Face to face with political Islam” IB Tauris, Oxford, 2002.

AHMED ZAOUI

Mr Ahmed Zaoui was a candidate at the parliamentary elections of December 1991. I met Ahmed Zaoui when he was a resident in Brussels and came to be informed of his belonging to the moderate component of the Algerian FIS.

I have been asked to comment on a number of issues relevant to Mr Zaoui’s refugee appeal and to other security-related matters in New Zealand. I set out my opinion and comment below.

Allegations that Ahmed Zaoui was involved in the GIA

I am aware of accusations claiming that Mr Zaoui has been involved in the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and even that he was the “Head of the GIA in Europe”. These are baseless statements. Mr Zaoui was a member of the legal political party, the FIS which won both local and parliamentary elections in June 1990 and December 1991. As such, because of his party’s legitimacy, Mr Zaoui was “criminalised” and repressed by the Algerian military regime.

The GIA is widely recognised as a creation of the Algerian secret service. The radical branch of the GIA in fact did exist for some time, but as soon as in the early-mid 1990s it began to be widely manipulated by the Algerian regime. Several books (see, for example, “La Sale Guerre” et al, quoted in “Face to face with Political Islam”) contain very credible evidence and testimonies on this precise issue of the Algerian regime manipulating the violence of the “GIA”.

The entire range of the so called “independent” press in Algeria, including the so-called independent “El Watan”, lies firmly in the control of the diverse sections of military power in the country. Even when some “real” evidence does happen to be published, it is usually only the result of one of the military “clans” hoping to take advantage of it for use against another. But the Algerian media network is mainly used to spread the official version of the violence, that is, to criminalize its political opposition and make all political “resistance” fit into a mere security and “terrorism” agenda.

There is a campaign of repression in Algerian launched by the military regime against members of the FIS – a democratically-elected party which had dared to win two elections in a row. I should add that the biggest threat to the Algerian regime is its fear of the ballot box and of moderate legal political opponents such as the FIS and Ahmed Zaoui. The regime prefers political violence and attempts to criminalize its political opponents in order to then “justify” its own widespread state terror.

Through my work and research I am very familiar with the means by which Algerian official media networks and foreign journalists have been influenced and sometimes manipulated by the very efficient Algerian military secret services. These services constantly attach the label of “militant” or “terrorist” to any resistance to their brutal and entirely-illegal campaign of repression.

Forged and false evidence

I am deeply convinced that forged reports by Algerian secret services (including press and NGO’s) are a very common means of their action abroad.

I have personally attended a US Court case of another FIS executive member, Mr Anwar Haddam. In that case I discovered that evidence of forged and fraudulent accusations found in “reports” that had been presented by so-called “independent” non-governmental organizations and official Algerian informers were forged.

Providing forged reports is the most common means used by the Algerian authorities in their attempt to influence foreign courts. In one case at least, evidence had been forged by French counter-terrorist police (in the case of the leader of the “Fraternité Algérienne”). France jailed the leader but he was eventually freed a few years later by another court.

Mr Zaoui and New Zealand

In my emphatic view, Ahmed Zaoui could not possibly represent any threat, either physically, economically, or politically to New Zealand interests.

Ahmed Zaoui has a political agenda which is national i.e. Algerian – rather than international – in nature. In spite of the false accusations against him, it has never been demonstrated that he has had any links with militants or armed groups. Therefore I could see no reason why granting him residence in New Zealand could represent the slightest danger for New Zealand. If a political opening occurs in Algeria (and in my view it will no doubt occur in the future), I am sure Mr Zaoui would more than likely be happy to return to his homeland.

I do not think that the Algerian authorities, either directly or through their GIA, are in any situation to export the conflict outside Algeria any longer, and certainly not to a country as far from Algeria as New Zealand. Mr Zaoui may be wanted by the Algerian authorities, but he does not represent such an important stake as, say, the top FIS leaders Mr Ali Belhaj or Dr Abbassi Madani do. Moreover, the Algerian authorities now know that western countries are no longer as naïve about the Algerian situation as they used to be; consequently they no longer manipulate their “GIA” as they did previously.

In my opinion, if Mr Zaoui was granted political asylum in New Zealand, this would not only represent no danger for New Zealand but it would, on the contrary, demonstrate the high level of understanding that the New Zealand authorities have of the complexity of the crisis in many countries of the Arab world. It would demonstrate an ability to deal with difficult issues in the Algerian context on a more sophisticated, more intelligent and more humane basis than the highly dangerous and repressive stance adopted by the Algerian military dictatorship.

This could indeed raise the level of mutual understanding and cooperation across a very large range of Arab and Muslim public opinion throughout the world, and in my view would in the near future represent a very positive contribution towards New Zealand relations with a large portion of the globe.

François BURGAT,
CNRS CEFAS
Sanaa 10 July 2003