Tampa refugee killed in NZ
A refugee who was refused entry to Australia amid the Tampa scandal in 2001 has been killed working as a taxi driver in New Zealand.
Abdulrahman Ikhtiari fled persecution in his native Afghanistan seven years ago.
One of 438 asylum-seekers rescued by the MV Tampa from a sinking fishing boat off WA in August 2001, he was refused entry to Australia and subsequently taken to New Zealand.
The 39-year-old father-of-five was killed during a night shift in Christchurch on Saturday night. He was found in his taxi with a single stab wound to the chest.
Police had yet to find two men believed to have been the United Taxi driver's last fare, press.co.nz said.
The United Taxis fleet does not have alarm systems or cameras.
Ikhtiari's home in Bryndwr was a sombre scene yesterday, press.co.nz said.
More than 30 taxi drivers and members of the Afghan community were at the home to lend support to the family.
Ikhtiari's wife, Ziagul, and his children aged six to 14, had been moved to a different address and were suffering extreme distress.
A family spokesman, who declined to be named, expressed concern for Ikhtiari's widow, who was "very frail".
"She can't cope," he said.
Christchurch man Ali Tausif said Ikhtiari was known in the Christchurch Muslim community as a "very quiet, polite person".
Hagley Community College associate principal Rex Gibson said members of Ikhtiari's extended family worked at the college and Ikhtiari volunteered at the school's refugee homework program.
Ikhtiari came to New Zealand after persecution of his Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan by the ruling Taliban.
He was aboard the container ship the MV Tampa which created international headlines when it rescued him and more than 400 other Afghan refugees from a distressed fishing vessel but then was refused access to Australian ports.
New Zealand took 131 of the 438 asylum-seekers (including about 40 unaccompanied boys) rescued by the Tampa.
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