Ali Panah had been on hunger strike for 53 days in protest against efforts to deport him to Iran, where he said he would be persecuted due to his conversion to Christianity.I'm relieved. I kept expecting to hear of his death. Which is probably why he was given bail today - a man dying while on hunger strike in NZ would not be a good look internationally.
Related Link: Stuff
Update: Sep 5 2007 - John Key not interested.
Update: Feb 16, 2009 - Ali Panah granted residency
Is it just me, or does anyone else see something just a little bit odd about a man who fears he will be killed if deported and yet is quite happy to starve himself to death to avoid being killed?
ReplyDeleteYour observation might make a good Seinfeld skit.
ReplyDeleteWhat's odd? There's a lot to be said for choosing the time and manner of your own death, if the other option is having some totalitarian nutjob regime choose it for you.
ReplyDeleteConsider it a 'physical challenge'. If you have the fortitude to starve yourself for 50+ days you should be a allowed to swap states.
ReplyDeleteHey fugley he has got a track record a bit like some other bludger that has been sucking the tax payer dry for a few years now . Some Zrab chap who has got a couple legal aid lickspittle bent female lawyers !!!!
ReplyDeletegeorge, why would you want to make way for this guy?
ReplyDeletehe is a liar, a thief and a crimnal, he is also, apparently, a christian, which should have ruled out the otehr 3, but maybe he's from that branch of xtianity that forgives sins.
see more on him at www.fugley.org
Why should he get bounced but a convicted terrorist be made a celecb at our expense and another guy gets a free pass for being "gay" while we pay for his wife and mutant offspring to live with him?
ReplyDeleteAll I'm looking for is a level deportation field.
The common factor seems to be that being Christian will get you MSM treatment that you all buy into without batting an eyelid but they'll get all tearfull and humanity gushy over almost anyone else.
He should nad knelt down to suck rather than pray and he would have been safe.
Some people have been saying he snuck into the country illegally and has been a queue jumper. I cannot find a source proving this though.
ReplyDeleteIndeed:
as Prime Minister Helen Clark has pointed out, Mr Panah has "been right through all the proper processes which assess people's applications to stay in New Zealand
that doesn't sound like he did anything illegal - just that he made his case and was rejected.
I'm not necessarily fighting for this man because I don't have the full set of facts. However, what I am trying to do is counter a series of heartless arguments for ignoring his case that appear to be founded on biases and prejudice.
As Murray said - a level playing field. And perhaps a little bit more than that - a compassionate one.