According to Golriz Ghahraman, work-related stress affected her behaviour.
After being accused of shoplifting on multiple occasions, a New Zealand MP has stepped down from her position, while police are looking into the allegations.
The Green Party’s Golriz Ghahraman, who was the first refugee to become a member of the country’s government in 2017 and a former UN human rights lawyer, is suspected of taking items from two clothing shops – one in Auckland and the other in Wellington.
She said that she was under work-related stress and that it affected her behaviour in an irrational way.
“I have disappointed many people and I apologise deeply,” she said.
Golriz Ghahraman and her family escaped from Iran as a child and received political asylum in New Zealand.
She announced her resignation on Tuesday, after CCTV footage showed her allegedly shoplifting a designer handbag from a boutique in Auckland.
She has not been arrested or charged with any offence, and she said in a statement that she did not meet the high standards of conduct that the public expected from their representatives.
“I can’t explain my behaviour because it makes no sense, and after seeing a doctor, I realise I’m unwell,” she said, adding that she was not trying to justify herself.
“The mental health expert I consult says that my recent behaviour is related to recent events that triggered an extreme stress reaction, and to some trauma that I was not aware of.”
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said that Golriz Ghahraman had faced “almost constant threats of sexual violence, physical violence, death threats since she was elected to Parliament”.
He said that this added to the stress that most members of parliament already experienced.
“Police have been investigating those threats for almost the entire time that she has been a member of parliament, and so it’s clear that living with that level of threat in what is already a stressful situation has consequences,” he said.
Golriz Ghahraman has previously spoken about the abuse she received online and offline because of her Iranian background, her gender and the public positions she took on various issues.
“Some of the online threats I received were so serious that I had to use a security alarm and have security guards escort me to and from Parliament,” she told TVNZ, the national broadcaster, in 2021.
In 2017, she was given an escort after being threatened by white supremacists.
Lately, she has been attacked for joining pro-Palestinian demonstrations and for criticising Israel’s military actions in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza, as the Green Party’s spokesperson for foreign affairs and human rights.
Marama Davidson, the other Green Party co-leader, said that Golriz Ghahraman did the right thing by resigning, but that she was clearly in distress and that they would continue to support her.
“We have witnessed the discussion over the last few years, especially about the specific treatment of women who have public profiles, and also the specific treatment of women of colour who have public profiles,” said Marama Davidson.
