New Zealand's first refugee lawmaker charged after resigning over claims of shoplifting

WELLINGTON (AP) — New Zealand’s first refugee lawmaker was charged by police a day after resigning amid allegations she had shoplifted several times at local high-end boutiques.

New Zealand Police said Golriz Ghahraman, a former member of New Zealand’s Green Party, had been charged on Wednesday with two counts of shoplifting at a store in Auckland's trendy Ponsonby neighborhood.

“Today, a 43-year-old woman has been summonsed to appear in the Auckland District Court on two charges of shoplifting,” a police statement said. “These charges relate to incidents at a Ponsonby retailer that allegedly occurred on 21 and 23 December 2023."

Ghahraman, who was the Green Party’s justice and foreign affairs spokesperson, is expected to appear in the Auckland District Court on Feb. 1.

Ghahraman resigned on Tuesday without referring to the specific allegations, saying that “stresses relating to my work” led her to act “in ways completely out of character.”

“People should, rightly, expect the highest standards of behaviour from their elected representatives. I fell short. I’m sorry,” she wrote in a statement released on Tuesday. It’s not a behaviour I can explain because it’s not rational in any way, and after medical evaluation, I understand I’m not well.”

“The best thing for my mental health is to resign as a member of parliament and to focus on my recovery and to find other ways to work for positive change in the world.”

Local media had earlier accused Ghahraman of shoplifting two times at Scotties Boutique in Auckland, and once at Cre8iveworkz in Wellington in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

On Tuesday, the New Zealand Herald published CCTV footage of the 42-year-old appearing to steal a handbag from the Auckland-based store.

Ghahraman is an Iranian-born, Oxford-educated human rights lawyer who sought asylum in New Zealand after the Iran-Iraq war. She became first refugee elected to New Zealand's parliament in 2017.

In recent months, Ghahraman was one of the country’s most vocal advocates for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Greens co-leader James Shaw said he had a “a lot of empathy for Ghahraman," who was “clearly in a state of extreme distress.”

“She has taken responsibility and apologized. We support the decision,” he said before detailing threats she encountered during her six years as a lawmaker.

“Golriz herself has been subject to pretty much continuous threats of sexual violence, physical violence, death threats, since the day she was elected,” he said. “There have been police investigations into those threats almost the entire time ... if you’re living with that level of threat in what is already quite a stressful situation there are going to be consequences.”