<p>A Kurdish-Iranian refugee who wrote an award-winning book on his mobile phone while held in one of Australia's notorious Pacific detention camps has been granted asylum in New Zealand, officials said Friday.</p>.<p>Behrouz Boochani has been in New Zealand since November when he applied for refugee status after attending a literary festival to speak about his six years in limbo under Australia's hardline immigration policies.</p>.<p>Immigration New Zealand said Boochani's application had been successful, which means he has the right to stay in the South Pacific nation indefinitely.</p>.<p>"Mr Boochani has been recognised as a refugee under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol," it said in a brief statement, refusing to release further details on privacy grounds.</p>.<p>Reports said the decision was relayed to Boochani on Thursday, his 37th birthday.</p>.<p>"It's very important that now I have some certainty about my future, so now I feel stronger, I feel stable to continue to work here," he told the <em>stuff.co.nz</em> news website.</p>.<p>Boochani painstakingly tapped out his book <em>"No Friend But The Mountains"</em> on WhatsApp while detained in the Australian-run Manus Island migrant camp off Papua New Guinea, which is now officially closed.</p>.<p>He was pulled from a sinking boat in Australian waters in 2013 and held in Papua New Guinea under a policy adopted by Canberra to prevent asylum seekers arriving by sea from setting foot on Australian soil.</p>.<p>His account of his plight won numerous awards, including Australia's richest literary honour, the Victorian Prize for Literature.</p>.<p>New Zealand Green Party human rights spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman, a longtime supporter of Boochani, said the refugee decision showed her country was "a place where fairness and compassion prevails".</p>.<p>"People escaping torture and persecution based on their religion, race, and political activism deserve a place to call home, they deserve protection," she said.</p>.<p>"We welcome Behrouz wholeheartedly."</p>.<p>Boochani is reportedly working as a researcher at Canterbury University in the South Island city of Christchurch.</p>.<p>He fled Iran for Indonesia in 2013 when the Kurdish magazine he wrote for was raided by the military for publishing anti-government articles.</p>.<p>He then paid a people-smuggler to take him to Australia but the voyage ended with him being sent to Manus Island.</p>
<p>A Kurdish-Iranian refugee who wrote an award-winning book on his mobile phone while held in one of Australia's notorious Pacific detention camps has been granted asylum in New Zealand, officials said Friday.</p>.<p>Behrouz Boochani has been in New Zealand since November when he applied for refugee status after attending a literary festival to speak about his six years in limbo under Australia's hardline immigration policies.</p>.<p>Immigration New Zealand said Boochani's application had been successful, which means he has the right to stay in the South Pacific nation indefinitely.</p>.<p>"Mr Boochani has been recognised as a refugee under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol," it said in a brief statement, refusing to release further details on privacy grounds.</p>.<p>Reports said the decision was relayed to Boochani on Thursday, his 37th birthday.</p>.<p>"It's very important that now I have some certainty about my future, so now I feel stronger, I feel stable to continue to work here," he told the <em>stuff.co.nz</em> news website.</p>.<p>Boochani painstakingly tapped out his book <em>"No Friend But The Mountains"</em> on WhatsApp while detained in the Australian-run Manus Island migrant camp off Papua New Guinea, which is now officially closed.</p>.<p>He was pulled from a sinking boat in Australian waters in 2013 and held in Papua New Guinea under a policy adopted by Canberra to prevent asylum seekers arriving by sea from setting foot on Australian soil.</p>.<p>His account of his plight won numerous awards, including Australia's richest literary honour, the Victorian Prize for Literature.</p>.<p>New Zealand Green Party human rights spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman, a longtime supporter of Boochani, said the refugee decision showed her country was "a place where fairness and compassion prevails".</p>.<p>"People escaping torture and persecution based on their religion, race, and political activism deserve a place to call home, they deserve protection," she said.</p>.<p>"We welcome Behrouz wholeheartedly."</p>.<p>Boochani is reportedly working as a researcher at Canterbury University in the South Island city of Christchurch.</p>.<p>He fled Iran for Indonesia in 2013 when the Kurdish magazine he wrote for was raided by the military for publishing anti-government articles.</p>.<p>He then paid a people-smuggler to take him to Australia but the voyage ended with him being sent to Manus Island.</p>