IRANIAN TO APPEAL REFUSAL OF REFUGEE STATUS

an Iranian overstayer's lawyer says he will be appealing a decision to refuse him refugee status by New Zealand. Ali Panah, who was released on bail from Auckland Remand Prison in September after a 53-day hunger strike, applied for refugee status after saying he would be killed or tortured if he was returned to Iran as he had converted to Christianity. His lawyer Grant Illingworth discovered that the Department of Labour's refugee status branch refused to grant him refugee status. "I have been instructed to seek an appeal, which will go to the Refugee Status Appeal Authority," Mr Illingworth told NZPA. "We are in the process of putting that in place." He said the appeal was likely to be months away from being heard. Mr Panah sought asylum when he arrived in New Zealand and was detained for 20 months for refusing to sign documents that would lead to his deportation to Iran.