A pregnant New Zealand journalist who sought refuge in Afghanistan after being banned from leaving her country accepts an offer to return in quarantine | world News

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A pregnant reporter, who was expelled from her native New Zealand, said she would be returning home after being offered a place in the country’s quarantine system.

Charlotte Bellis’ situation gained worldwide media attention after she said she had to turn to the Taliban in Afghanistan for sanctuary after she was closed off from New Zealand due to its strict border policies.

At a press conference on Tuesday, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said the government department responsible for the system that ensures people do not contract COVID-19 before they enter the country has now been offered a place, as well as flight arrangements. .

He added: “There is a place in MIQ (isolation and quarantine) for Mrs. Bellis and I am urging her to take it.”

Bellis, 25 weeks old, accepted the venue and said in a statement: “I will be returning to my home country of New Zealand at the beginning of March to have our baby girl.

“We are so excited to be coming home and staying surrounded by family and friends at such a special time.”

Mr Robertson denied that Peles had been given preferential treatment because she had gained a global audience for her complaint, embarrassing a government proud of its coronavirus policies.

Photo: Baileys gained worldwide media attention after she said she had to take refuge in the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pic: Jim Huylebroek

“What it sends is a message that the (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) staff who have to deal with the emergency request are dealing with very difficult and challenging cases on a daily basis,” he said.

“They’re always trying to make contact with people and trying to make arrangements that work.”

Baileys, 35, is expecting her first child with her Belgian partner and news photographer Jim Hoilibrook.

Both were based in Afghanistan while Bellis worked in that country for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel.

She discovered that she was pregnant shortly after her return to Qatar late last year, and the news that forced her to resign and leave the country, as being unmarried and pregnant is illegal.

She said she tried to stay in Belgium but the extended stay process would have left her with an expired visa.

In the end, she returned to Afghanistan with the reassurance of Taliban contacts that she would be safe, despite the regime’s hard-line interpretation of Islam.

Meanwhile, she continued her attempts to find a way back to New Zealand, initially joining thousands of New Zealanders living abroad trying to secure a place in mandatory hotel isolation via a government-run lottery.

Photo: Bellis is 25 weeks pregnant. Pic: Jim Huylebroek

The strict border policy has played a large role in the low numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country, but it has also come under fire for keeping many New Zealanders virtually isolated from their country.

With her unsuccessful in the lottery and her pregnancy progressing while she was waiting in impoverished Afghanistan, Biles applied for allocation under the contingency scheme, which offers places for people who fall into a narrow list of categories. But she refused.

Her story came to light when she wrote a column for the New Zealand Herald shortly afterwards, saying, “When the Taliban – a pregnant and unmarried woman – offer you a safe haven, you know your situation has been messed up.”

She later said, “It’s my legal right to go to New Zealand, where I get health care, where I have a family. All my support is there.”

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