Spies, police and Crown defend suit arising from mosque terror attacks
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Crown agencies, including New Zealand’s spy service, have been accused of wrongdoing linked to the 2019 mosque terror attacks.
Legal proceedings have been filed against the Attorney General over the actions of the Crown, New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.
The Attorney-General is listed as the first defendant in proceedings arising from the March 15, 2019, terror attacks, in which 51 worshippers were murdered and dozens more injured at two Christchurch mosques.
The judgment dealt only with claims against the second defendant, the Christchurch City Council, relating to an emergency exit at the Masjid an-Nur Mosque.
Crown Law and lawyer Amir Bastani were approached for comment about the Attorney General’s involvement.
The plaintiffs said people fleeing the Masjid an-Nur Mosque could not open an emergency exit, dubbed ‘Door D’, because the pressure they applied prohibited the “snib-lock” mechanism from unlocking.
“A number of people were shot or wounded by the individual around Door D while they were trying to open it,” the judgment said.
The plaintiffs claimed the Christchurch City Council failed to require the door to have a panic bar installed, or any other fire or emergency exit, when the mosque applied for consent to renovate in 2010.
They said that, but for the council’s acts and/or failures, “some of the Shaheed would not have died and some of the victims would not have been injured at or near Door D”.
They did not suggest the council was directly responsible for the events at Masjid an-Nur Mosque.
Door D was examined in detail during the first phase of the coronial inquest into the attacks in May 2024.
The council applied to strike out the plaintiffs’ claim, arguing it was not liable as a matter of law, but said that should not be seen as undermining “the reality of what occurred on 15 March 2019”.
Associate Judge Lester found the plaintiffs’ pleading was tenable, but said it would need to be amended. The proceedings are ongoing.