Matua Kahurangi: Stuff sinks to new low as convicted thief Golriz Ghahraman becomes their voice on Iran

Stuff has just confirmed what many Kiwis already suspected. The line between journalism and activist propaganda has all but disappeared. In its latest farce, Lloyd Burr and the Stuff editorial team have handed a megaphone to none other than Golriz Ghahraman, the disgraced former Green Party MP and convicted serial shoplifter, to lecture New Zealanders on the state of democracy in Iran.

Peter Dunne: The Greens moral high horse

The curious case of ex Green MP Darleen Tana raises interesting questions beyond her immediate political future.

Whether she leaves Parliament or stays, her fate is largely settled - her (brief) political career is over. If she goes, she at least has the opportunity of a fresh start, far away from politics. But should she decide to stay, she faces two years of ostracism and scorn from all sides of the House, and limited opportunities to participate in the House's proceedings, in either the Debating Chamber or select committees.

Sir Bob Jones: Lucky Golriz

When Golriz Ghahraman pleaded guilty, her lawyer argued strenuously against a conviction as this might deny her the ability to practise as a lawyer. However, she copped a female judge who was unmoved and convicted her anyway. Gloriz doesn’t know how lucky she was.

Here’s why.

David Farrar: The Ghahraman judgment

The 60 paragraph decision by Judge Jelas is an interesting read. Some extracts:

Cam Slater: A Slap on the Wrist with a Very Well Soaked Bus Ticket

As was predicted Golriz Ghahraman has pretty much got of ‘scotties’ free. Yes she now has a conviction, that’s about the only good news. She was fined just $1600 plus $260 court costs. She attended in her costume Palestinian tea towel showing utter contempt for the whole process.

David Farrar: The case for and against letting Golriz off

The Herald reports:

Former Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman will find out her punishment on Thursday for shoplifting more than $9000 in clothing. …

Simon Anderson: They No Longer Pretend to Care What We Think

I copped a fair amount of flak for publishing footage of two politicians sitting together outside a cafe. The essence of much of the criticism was that politicians are entitled to private lives – which of course they are – and that filming them in public was an unwarranted intrusion. Here I’ll explain why I think the circumstances are newsworthy.

Sir Bob Jones: The Golriz Ghahraman case

Regarding the Golriz drama the NZ Herald quoted a Wellington clinical psychologist, Dr Dougal Sutherland, ungrammatically saying, “If there is an irrational behaviour it suggests that perhaps all is not well”.

Try it again Dougal without the “an”. More important, wake up about the physical nature of the human body.

We have two counteracting brain lobes, one delivering emotion, the other logic.

Ele Ludemann: Black week for Greens

Last week was a black one for the Green Party.

One of its former MPs, Golriz Ghahraman, was in court where she entered a guilty plea to shoplifting and one of its new MPs, Darleen Tana, has been accused of migrant exploitation.

Peter Williams: The Ghahraman Conflict

What was that judge thinking?

That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible.

There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on the case in Stuff in 2016 and another story about them working together in the New Zealand Herald in February 2018.

David Farrar: Ghahraman pleads guilty

1 News reports:

The former Green Party MP was charged with four counts of shoplifting related to three incidents in Auckland and one in Wellington.

Cam Slater: Oh My, What a Cosy Coincidence

Yesterday Golriz Ghahraman appeared in court to plead guilty for her shoplifting offences. It must have been a humiliating experience but something interesting has come to light. Ghahraman was originally due to appear on 20 March, but somehow managed to squeeze in her appearance seven days earlier.

KSK: The Choices We Make Are Our Responsibility

Personal responsibility: remember that quaint idea? It is positively Dickensian these days, when individual problems are made the responsibility of the country at large by way of various blunt instruments. The bottom line is that large numbers of our citizens accept no responsibility for their choices in their lives – it is always someone else’s fault and that someone had damned well better step up and fix it – with more money. And lots more money. And with no accountability required.

David Farrar: The Ghahraman charges

1 News reports:

Auckland District Court documents show that Ghahraman is accused of stealing $2060 worth of clothing from Scotties Boutique in Auckland's Ponsonby on December 21 last year, and $7223 worth of clothing from the same store on December 23.

The third charge dates back further, with the ex-MP accused of shoplifting clothes valued at $695 from Cre8iveworx in Wellington on October 22. In total, the value of goods allegedly taken is $9978.

Ben Espiner: Holier Than Thou - A very bad look for Wellington Water

A very bad look for Wellington Water.

It’s the end of our first week on air for 2024 and Friday tradition demands that I attempt to wrap the week with at least some degree of thought or insight. This is typically delivered in the form of the on-air segment known as Holier than Thou – the segment where I try in endless vanity to spur on some public accountability from those in roles where it is often utterly vacant.

That segment is now also available here in written form to read at your convenience:

David Farrar: The sloppy serial shoplifting saga

We are now getting a clearer timeline of the shoplifting allegations against Green MP golriz ghahraman, and the involvement of the Green Party in (not) investigating serious criminal allegations.

The allegations, if they lead to charges, carry a maximum penalty of seven years jail. A conviction would result in automatic expulsion from Parliament. A conviction could also get Ghahraman disbarred as a lawyer. So these are not trivial issues.

The timeline, known so far is:

Karl du Fresne: Ghahraman's master-class in media manipulation

It’s safe to assume that lots of politicians are incorrigible attention-seekers – if not at the start of their careers, then certainly once they figure out how the system works and how the oxygen of publicity can be exploited to their advantage.

In this respect, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is hardly unusual. But what marks her as different is the skill with which she plays the game. Although ostensibly still a political novice, she’s as media-savvy as any veteran.

She has also learned that she can exploit the sympathy of journalists who are drawn to her because she’s young and female (like many press gallery reporters) and also Green and an Iranian asylum-seeker. Looking good on camera helps too, although I shouldn’t mention that because it will be condemned as sexist.

Bob Edlin: Yep, that’s what Peters said...

Green  MP  Golriz  Ghahraman  spoke movingly  in Parliament  during the debate  on the motion of condolence  to families of mosque victims, recalling  how as a  nine-year-old  she and her family  were  welcomed in Auckland as they  “escaped  oppression at the risk of  torture”.  

“We had lived through a war, and I will never forget being that nine-year-old girl on the escalator at Auckland Airport with my frightened parents.  We weren’t turned back. We were welcomed here. So I want to thank every single New Zealander—hundreds of thousands of people—who came out over the last three days, who stood on the right side of history for our values of inclusion and love”.

Then  she   issued a  challenge  to her  fellow  MPs.  She contended that politicians bear some responsibility for the shootings that killed 50 people at two mosques on Friday.