The case of Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis gives all the proof that we need that the Ardern regime is evil and acting against its own citizens. What makes this more obvious is that the medieval patriarchs of the Taliban appear to be kinder than Ardern:
My name is Charlotte Bellis and I am from Christchurch New Zealand, but based in Afghanistan.
You might know me for being that Kiwi journalist who asked the Taliban in their inaugural press conference; “what will you do to protect the rights of women and girls?”
What no one has known, until now, is that I conceived a little girl a week after that press conference.
She found out she was pregnant while working in Qatar, where it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried.
With Jim stuck in Kabul, we made a plan to keep everything secret until I was safely out of Qatar and try to get an MIQ spot in New Zealand. I immediately started playing the MIQ lottery, waking up at 3am and staring at my computer, only to miss out time and again. I resigned from Al Jazeera in November, losing my income, health insurance and residency. …
Then, some relief. The Government announced that New Zealand would open to citizens at the end of February. The timing was perfect. I would be 29 weeks pregnant and could get back in time for our little girl’s birth in May. Foreigners would be allowed in from the end of April, so Jim could be there for the birth too. We booked flights home and found a midwife in Christchurch.
Sounds like a dreadful position to be in and one that a citizen of an enlightened liberal democracy should never have to find themselves in.
The problem was the only other place we had visas to live was Afghanistan. I organised a meeting with senior Taliban contacts, “you know how I am dating Jim from The New York Times, but we’re not married, right?” “Yes, yes we respect you both and you are foreigners, that is up to you.” I nervously continued. “Well, I am pregnant and I can’t get back into New Zealand. If I come to Kabul, will we have a problem?” One translated for the other and they smiled. “No we’re happy for you, you can come and you won’t have a problem. Just tell people you’re married and if it escalates, call us. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
When the Taliban offers you – a pregnant, unmarried woman – safe haven, you know your situation is messed up.
This is the terrible embarrassment that the Ardern regime finds itself in, where medieval patriarchal warlords are now seen to be kinder than the Ardern regime. Who would ever have thought that could happen?
Worse still, the Ardern regime has handed the Taliban a major foreign policy positive public relations win, on a platter, with lashings of halal sauce.
Between Jim and I, we submitted 59 documents to MIQ and Immigration NZ, including a cover letter written by our lawyer summarising our situation.
On Monday, 24 January, we woke up to an email. We were rejected.
Charlotte Bellis is a New Zealand citizen. This is an outrage and a disgrace. She should not have to beg to be allowed home, especially when she is pregnant. The Bill of Rights gives Kiwi citizens an unfettered right of return. The Ardern regime has effectively made the million or so Kiwis offshore un-citizens or stateless.
Even though Chris Hipkins saw the folly of shutting a famous journalist out of the country and got involved, it was to no avail:
The morning we were rejected, I sobbed in my window overlooking Kabul’s snow-covered rooftops. I wasn’t triggered by the disappointment and uncertainty, but by the breach of trust. That in my time of need, the New Zealand Government said you’re not welcome here. It feels surreal to even write that. And so, I cried. I thought, I hope this never happens again. I thought, we are so much better than this. I thought back to August, and how brutally ironic it was, that I had asked the Taliban what they would do to ensure the rights of women and girls. And now, I am asking the same question of my own Government.
It is cruel and evil. But the embarrassment to the Ardern regime gets worse: another country has offered Charlotte Bellis asylum.
Pregnant Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis has been offered asylum by another country since going public about her struggle to secure an MIQ spot so she can return to New Zealand to give birth.
Speaking to RNZ overnight from Kabul, she did not name the country but said it was sad her own was stopping her from coming home.
“It’s really sad. I’ve been so proud for so long of being a New Zealander, at the beginning of the pandemic,” she said.
“We look after each other, we’re empathetic, we get stuff done. It just feels like such a breach of trust. I’m one of your people, and I need help.”
Bellis’s pregnancy was going well. “I can feel her kicking, so that’s exciting,” she told RNZ.
“And we haven’t really had any major issues along the way.”
Bellis’ friend and PR agent Gemma Ross confirmed a second country – not Afghanistan – had offered asylum.
“There’s been some outreach, but we’ve been asked to keep it confidential at this point,” Ross told the Herald.
Even though the Ardern regime is cold, heartless and evil, Kiwis are not. That’s not who we are:
She also said the journalist had been inundated with messages and offers of help from around the world since going public with her story, but they had not heard anything from the New Zealand Government.
It’s understood others Kiwis have offered their MIQ vouchers to Bellis, but this is not allowed under current MIQ rules.
How embarrassing is it that not one, but two other countries have offered a Kiwi asylum? Who would ever have thought that a Kiwi would ever need to seek asylum in the first place. Yet that is the position we find ourselves in under this cruel and evil regime led by Jacinda Ardern.
It certainly looks like “kindness” is just a meaningless slogan uttered by a cruel, heartless and ultimately evil woman who is mad drunk on power.
Please share this article so others can discover The BFD.