On March 30, 2023 New Zealand Civil Liberties activist, former politician and Pastor Billy Te Kahika was sentenced to 5 months jail for breaching the New Zealand Covid-19 Health Response Act 2020 while protesting against lockdown harm and Government over reach. This was reduced to 4 months due to being under house arrest for 19 days already.
He was arrested in August 2021 during a level 4 lockdown declared over just one case of Covid-19 for a small protest of around 100 people that was peaceful, outdoors with no property damaged or cases of Covid coming from it. Black Lives Matter had approximately 30,000 people at two huge protests in Auckland and Wellington during a level 2 lockdown a year earlier with no masks or social distancing and there was not one arrest.
Mr Te Kahika’s sentence to prison is one of the harshest sentence of its kind given in the western world to date at a time when the Australian Government has dropped and reimbursed over 30,000 fines and punishments of people who resisted Covid lockdown laws. The UK Government has a non prison punishment approach to Covid law enforcement and the US Government has just announced the ‘Covid-19 pandemic is over’.
It is now well understood in New Zealand as it is around the world that the harm that was caused by the use of lockdowns to deal with Covid-19 far outstripped the risk of the Covid 'virus' for most New Zealanders and offered no benefit and only suicide, social distress and huge economic and human rights destruction. A recent report by Johns Hopkins University Economic School confirmed that 'lockdowns needed to be rejected' and offered no benefit'. There are many more such reports and articles like this.
In the past week examples of tyranny and hostility towards 'truth & freedom defenders' in New Zealand, such as Mr Te Kahika have been made plain to the world and at his sentencing it took another step in its evolution and sent a clear message to all New Zealanders 'that you cannot exercise freedom of speech, speak the truth and defend civil and Human Rights if it is against the Government of New Zealand's narrative because if you do you will be crushed'.
Mr Te Kahika has been persecuted by the New Zealand Government for almost twenty months and vilified endlessly by Government funded mainstream media in New Zealand. He is also facing charges for ‘Electoral’ fraud with the NZ Government & Police claiming Pastor Billy lied in his post election report to hide that he overspent on election advertising by approximately $2,500 and hid a $15,000.00 donation. To say that these charges are ludicrous is to under estimate the ideology of bureaucrats and politicians that are seeking to harm him for his stand.
Most cases involving Electoral dishonesty involve hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions.
We are calling for a petition to direct the world's attention to Pastor Billy’s plight and to ask the New Zealand Government for either a complete dismissal of charges or the removal the prison sentence.
We are raising funds for Pastor Billy to continue his legal fight and to provide for his family under very seriously distressing conditions.
Mr Te Kahika is a Pastor, a community services contributor and former member of the New Zealand Army and Police with no previous convictions and is regarded as an outstanding man of integrity and servant of the people.
Please help him to stay with his family.
