{"id":117798,"date":"2021-09-04T16:16:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-04T23:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117798"},"modified":"2021-09-04T16:16:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-04T23:16:53","slug":"auckland-mall-terrorist-attack-lone-wolf-isis-supporter-identified-as-sri-lankan-refugee-ahamed-aathil-mohamed-samsudeen-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/04\/auckland-mall-terrorist-attack-lone-wolf-isis-supporter-identified-as-sri-lankan-refugee-ahamed-aathil-mohamed-samsudeen-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-responds\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland mall terrorist attack: ‘Lone wolf’ Isis supporter identified as Sri Lankan refugee Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Sam Hurley<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Jared Savage Courtesy <\/a><\/em><\/span>NZ Herald<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

THE SUPERMARKET TERRORIST
* Aathil Samsudeen came to NZ in 2011, escaping a tortuous regime in Sri Lanka
* He was granted refugee status in 2013 but within five years had become angry and isolated
* He was the perfect candidate to be radicalised in his own living room, through Isis-inspired social media influences
* He was caught trying to travel to Syria in 2017 and a raid on his Queen St apartment uncovered a large hunting knife and disturbing, extremist images, videos and songs
* The Herald has previously reported police tried to charge Samsudeen for allegedly plotting a “lone wolf” style knife attack, but could not because of a longstanding gap in NZ’s counter-terrorism law<\/a>
* Authorities have been trying to have his refugee status revoked and for him to be deported since 2018
* Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last night expressed her frustration and disappointment over the process
* Samsudeen’s family in Sri Lanka have issued a lengthy statement, saying they are heartbroken and want to stand with NZ<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Islamic State supporter who stabbed at least five shoppers in an Auckland supermarket before being shot dead can now be identified – and along with it the full story of how a young man who turned to New Zealand for help as a refugee became radicalised in his own living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, a 32-year-old born in Sri Lanka who came to New Zealand in October 2011 and was granted refugee status two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Herald can reveal immigration officials had sought to revoke his refugee status in 2018, but he appealed and a final decision had yet to be made on whether he could be deported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His uncertain immigration status was also the reason why the terrorist could not be identified until 11pm Saturday night, when it was lifted by a High Court judge, as anyone claiming refugee status cannot be identified by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samsudeen was Tamil – a minority ethnic group persecuted by Sri Lankan authorities during a decades-long conflict – and claimed he and his father were attacked, kidnapped and tortured because of their political background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His claim to asylum was supported by scars on his body, as well as a psychologist’s report which said Samsudeen presented as a “highly distressed and damaged young man” suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen pictured taking aim with a firearm in a photo from one of his social media accounts which was later deleted. Photo \/ Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In granting refugee status to Samsudeen, the Immigration Protection Tribunal ruling, obtained by the Herald on Sunday, said the appellant was “persistently re-experiencing traumatic events”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“[The psychiatrist] believes it can only be explained in terms of traumatic experience, and she states that, in her opinion, it would be very difficult for him to have fabricated the degree of disturbance displayed during the interviews she conducted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was angry and worried about the safety of his parents, with his anxiety heightened by living so far away in a strange country, without the support of friends and family, and lacking confidence and maturity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Sam Hurley\u00a0and\u00a0Jared Savage Courtesy NZ Herald THE SUPERMARKET TERRORIST* Aathil Samsudeen came to NZ in 2011, escaping a tortuous regime in Sri Lanka* He was granted refugee status in 2013 but within five years had become angry and isolated* He was the perfect candidate to be radicalised in his own living room, through Isis-inspired social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}