A group of Christian leaders have penned an open letter calling for the release of embattled Destiny Church pastor Brian Tamaki, who was remanded in custody this week after being refused bail.
Tamaki will have spent 10 days in prison when he next appears in court on January 27, facing multiple charges relating to the COVID-19 Protection Public Health Order and breaching bail conditions.
Police had launched an investigation earlier in January after Tamaki visited Christchurch's Hagley Park to speak at a protest, though Tamaki claims it wasn't a protest and actually a "family funday picnic".
Many of his supporters have been camping outside the Mt Eden Corrections Facility since he was imprisoned there on Monday. Nearby residents have accused them of blocking streets, revving motorbikes and defecating in bushes.
But Tamaki is not just getting support from those within Destiny Church and his anti-mandate group the Freedom and Rights Coalition - other sections of the Christian community have also lended him their voice.
Earlier in the week, Tamaki's wife Hannah shared a video of City Impact Church pastor Peter Mortlock speaking outside the prison in support of his "friend and man of God", declaring Tamaki's imprisonment a "sad day for New Zealand".
Now, a group of five pastors from across the North Island have penned a letter calling for his release from prison and urging the Church in New Zealand to recognise his arrest as "a warning sign".
The letter, addressed to New Zealand, is signed by five pastors: three from Grace Churches - one each in Gisborne, Tauranga and Rotorua - and the other two from Auckland's Covenant Church and South City Reformed Baptist Church.
"It is no secret there is much of Brian Tamaki's theology and Christian practice that we would disagree with," it begins.
"Yet, we felt compelled to write the following as a show of solidarity with his current plight. Our aim here is not to air our disagreements with Mr Tamaki. Rather we stand in solidarity with a religious minister who has been imprisoned, right here in Aotearoa."
It goes on to suggest Tamaki has been "systematically silenced" and that New Zealand is "faced with a diseased democracy at best; and at worst, tyranny". The pastors then call on Tamaki to be able to go about his life, quoting scripture.
"We must learn to converse with one another once again, even when we disagree, without corralling one another off to jail cells," the letter reads.
"Mr Tamaki may have touched the painted line of his bail conditions, but is jail really the suitable answer for handling political differences (while gangs in NZ face far lesser penalities for public disorder)?
"We write in solidarity with a man who dared to speak a point of view not approved by the State."
Tamaki was not arrested and charged for speaking out against the Government and its regulations, but rather for alleged breaches of COVID-19 Protection Public Health Order and breaching bail conditions.
Protests run by his Freedom and Rights Coalition were attended by thousands during Auckland's lockdown last year, and Tamaki also attended a protest at Christchurch's Hagley Park to speak while on bail.
Earlier in January, the Freedom and Rights Coalition were sent an invoice for $14,117 over three protest events that occurred in Cranmer Square and other parts of the city before Christmas.
The fine covers the temporary traffic management (TMP) cost ramifications from the protest.
