When it comes to immigration, New Zealand is strangely torn: on one hand the government is happy about every professional who is plugging the personnel deficits in the public services (doctors, engineers) and welcoming thousands of seasonal farm workers, but an Iranian asylum seeker whose employer and workmates vouchsafe for his excellent work ethic is supposed to be deported. Weird, ay?

Ali Panah left Iran 5 years ago and converted in South Korea to Christianity before applying for asylum here in NZ. After his Asylum was refused he was imprisoned and to protest his deportation he started a hungerstrike 2 months ago he just stopped.

Now, my query: If this guy has been paying his taxes for the benefit of the state while he was working why not just give him a work permit and save the money the legal proceedings and extradition process is going to cost? Even if the whole Christianity stunt is a fake, at least NZ has another hard worker and tax payer.

Problem solved.