Golriz Ghahraman, a New Zealand Greens MP, resigned after a radio station accused her of shoplifting from two luxury stores. Ghahraman apologized and said she took “full responsibility for her actions”, but she also said her actions were due to negative effects on her mental health in response to work-related stress. she. She specified that with her statements she does not want to “justify” her actions, “but to explain them”. At the moment the police have not said they have opened any investigation into her account.
Ghahraman, a human rights lawyer born in 1981 in Iran, in 2017 became the first refugee to become an MP in New Zealand. The leaders of her party, Marama Davidson and James Shaw, said they supported her decision to resign, but also underlined how Ghahraman has suffered many inappropriate comments and threats in her career: since 2019 the congresswoman has lived under guard due to a series of death threats. According to Davidson and Shaw, Ghahraman’s inappropriate behavior was a consequence of the level of stress she experienced.
The allegations against Ghahraman were first published by New Zealand radio Newstalk ZB on January 10: he allegedly stole items from Scotties Boutique, a luxury clothing store in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. Police confirmed they received a theft report on December 23, but did not say whether an investigation had been opened into any individual in relation to the matter. Another clothing store, Cre8iveworx in Wellington, the capital, also said it believed Ghahraman had stolen products from the store.