22 November 2008
Key evidence not heard, says Iraqi
31 August 2007
By Jomine Neethling and Jessica Wauchop: Te Waha Nui Online
An Iraqi drug courier who has been imprisoned for five years was unable to put his full case before a New Zealand court.
Mazin Jaburi, who was stopped at Auckland International Airport on November 17, 2005 with $200,000 of ecstasy strapped to his body, finally faced trial in July this year.
He was found guilty in the Manukau District Court on two charges – importing a class-B controlled drug into New Zealand and possession of a class-B controlled drug for supply.
He says he committed the crimes in an attempt to save his sister’s life.
Te Waha Nui has viewed unedited footage of Jaburi’s trial shot by TV3’s 60 Minutes.
In it Jaburi says he was unable to raise $US50,000 demanded by extortionists to save the life of his sister who had been kidnapped in Iraq.
He was then forced to smuggle 2206 ecstasy tablets into New Zealand instead, he says.
Jaburi says his sister was killed after the drugs failed to reach their New Zealand destination.
But Auckland police did not believe Jaburi’s story. They questioned the death of his sister, Jaburi’s motives and the authenticity of documents from Iraq which he said would support his story.
Jaburi planned to present as part of his defence a death certificate stamped by Iraq’s Ministry of Public Health.
Also to be tabled was a letter written by Baghdad police regarding his sister’s death, a death notice from a Baghdad newspaper and a photo of her supposed gravesite.
Defence lawyer David Niven says police sent the documents to Interpol in Wellington for verification.
This could not be done because Interpol no longer operates in Baghdad.
60 Minutes could not ascertain if further attempts were made to verify the crucial documents.
The lack of verification meant the jury never saw the evidence.
Niven also intended to call Jaburi’s brother-in-law, Athman Faisal Ahmed, as a witness for the defence.
But Ahmed was denied a visa into New Zealand.
While the Immigration Department was unable to comment, it is understood it was worried he would become an overstayer.
At the sentencing hearing Niven told the court the case was “hamstrung” and “the jury may not have heard the best evidence on the matter”.
Scott Optican, an associate professor at the University of Auckland law faculty and a specialist in criminal trials, says under the circumstances Jaburi probably has a right to an appeal.
“If Mr Jaburi was prevented from making a full defence to the Crown case because a witness he needed was denied entry into New Zealand, and the death certificate of his sister was not admitted as evidence, then it may be the case that his rights, under the Bill of Rights, were breached.”
Optican also says that under the circumstances witnesses can give evidence by video link-up from outside New Zealand.
“If what Mr Jaburi is saying is true, then he would have a defence on the grounds of duress – and should be entitled to prove it.”
Jaburi and Niven are considering appealing against the verdict.
