A sitting New Zealand Green Party MP, and human rights lawyer, stands accused of shoplifting from a boutique central Auckland clothing shop.
The alleged incident involving 43-year-old MP Golriz Ghahraman—who is the Green Party’s justice spokesperson—took place two days before Christmas. The Green Party confirmed she has been stood down from her portfolios.
In a media statement, a Green Party spokesperson confirmed Ghahraman would “stand aside from all portfolio responsibilities until the matter is resolved,” adding that “Green MPs are expected to maintain high standards of public behaviour.”
Police also confirmed they received a report on Dec. 23, 2023, concerning the alleged incident, and have said initial inquiries are being conducted and they could not comment further.
The store concerned is believed to be Scottie’s Boutique in upmarket Ponsonby, there is no current information available concerning what was allegedly stolen.
Ms. Ghahraman came to New Zealand as a child refugee from Iran after seeking asylum with her family, and studied for a legal degree at the University of Auckland before completing a Master of Studies degree in International Human Rights Law with Distinction from the University of Oxford.
She now works as a lawyer and has worked for the United Nations on both the defence and prosecution for war crime trials in Rwanda, Cambodia, and The Hague—focusing on war, human rights atrocities, and women’s empowerment
In New Zealand, she works in the areas of justice reform and refugee rights.
She was selected as a Green Party list candidate in the 2017 general election, gaining a seat after an increase in the Green Party’s vote, while retaining it during the 2020 election.
Gharaman’s Outspoken Past
Ms. Ghahraman has been involved in high-profile spats with other MPs and was once described as a “menace to freedom in [New Zealand]” by ACT Party leader David Seymour.In 2017, Ghahraman spoke about former U.S President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13769 saying:
“I wouldn’t travel to America right now. I wouldn’t want to face what people are facing—held in handcuffs and being interrogated by security forces, [...] I wouldn’t want that [border detention] for anyone.”
Ms. Ghahraman was the subject of a claim of anti-semitism in 2019 by New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses after a X (formerly Twitter) post that described Joseph and Mary as Palestinian refugees.
Recently, she has commented on the Israel-Hamas conflict saying Israel has been withholding food, water, and supplies from Palestinians, describing the Israel Defence Forces’ actions as “crimes against humanity,” and accusing both sides of “ethnic cleansing.”
“While the attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians was unconscionable and constitutes the gravest war crimes, nothing justifies the indiscriminate retaliation upon the trapped civilian population in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force,” Ms. Ghahraman said.
