New Zealand holds Afghan asylum seekers

Two teenage Afghan asylum seekers who arrived in New Zealand today from the Pacific island of Nauru have been taken to prison ‘‘for security reasons’’, officials said.

The two men, aged 16 and 17, would be held in the special unit of Auckland’s medium security Mount Eden Prison while their status assessment was carried out, Immigration spokesman Ian Smith said.

Smith declined to explain the security reasons behind the jailing of the pair, who were interviewed before being whisked away by police to the prison in Auckland, 500 miles north of the capital, Wellington.

Immigration minister Lianne Dalziel said concerns surfaced during initial interviews after they arrived from Nauru on a charter flight.

‘‘Concerns were raised as a result of the interview process and they will remain (in prison) until further inquiries and interviews can be conducted,’’ Dalziel told National Radio.

Earlier this week, officials said screening of the refugees would be tightened following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The suspected mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Laden, is being sheltered by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.

The pair were among the second group of asylum seekers to arrive in New Zealand after a month-long sea ordeal after their rescue from a sinking Indonesian ferry by the Norwegian freighter Tampa.

When Australia refused entry to the 433 asylum seekers, sparking international condemnation, New Zealand offered to take up to 150 in a move to break the impasse.

The first flight of 70 asylum seekers arrived on Wednesday.

The refugees, including 36 unaccompanied boys aged between 14 and 17 and five pregnant women, are being detained at the Mangere reception centre in Auckland while their claims for refugee status are assessed.

The Government has not announced what will happen to any who are refused refugee status.

Immigration officers said those considered unsuitable for settlement in New Zealand would be detained either at the centre or in prison, and sent back to Afghanistan.

They admitted they did not know how they would get back to Afghanistan after its borders were closed following the terror attacks on the United States.

Afghanistan refuses to take back citizens who flee abroad.