Alleged New Zealand gunman sends 'call to action' letter from jail cell

The man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques was allowed to send a handwritten “call to action” letter from his jail cell — and it ended up online.

Brenton Tarrant sent a six-page letter to a person named “Alan” in Russia. The letter was posted on 4chan, a website notorious for posts from white supremacists, and comes after the El Paso, Texas, shooter cited Tarrant as an inspiration.

Much of the letter discusses a one-month trip Tarrant said he took to Russia in 2015, but also warns of a “great conflict” and uses language that could be interpreted as a call to arms.

New Zealand Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said in a statement that he believes the prison system shouldn’t have allowed Tarrant to send the letter.

“I have made myself clear that this cannot happen again,” Davis said.

New Zealand prisoners have the right to send and receive mail, but Davis said the prison system can withhold correspondence and has already done so with some letters Tarrant tried to send or receive.

“We have never had to manage a prisoner like this before — and I have asked questions around whether our laws are now fit for purpose and asked for advice on what changes we may now need to make,” Davis said.

The letter is dated July 4 and Tarrant thanks Alan for sending postage stamps, saying they’re the only two pieces of color in an otherwise gray cell and that he’ll have to hide them from the guards. He also cites Plato and other philosophers as inspiration for his views, saying he “cannot go into any great detail about regrets or feelings as the guards will confiscate my letter if I do” and that it could also be used as evidence.

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The Corrections Department said the law only allows a prison director to withhold a prisoner’s mail in a “very limited” range of circumstances, but in this occasion the letter “should have been withheld.”

Before Tarrant’s March 15 shooting, he uploaded a 74-page manifesto on 8chan in which he outlined his white supremacist views and beliefs that immigrants were invaders who would replace the white race.

8chan was effectively taken offline earlier this month after two companies cut off technical services after the shooter who killed 22 people at an El Paso Walmart posted a racist manifesto on the website just before the Aug. 3 killings.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to never say Tarrant’s name in an effort to deny him the publicity she said he craves, which makes his letter even more embarrassing for the government.

“I think every New Zealander would have an expectation that this individual should not be able to share his hateful message from behind bars,” Ardern said.

Tarrant has pleaded not guilty to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges. His trial is scheduled for May 2020.