News of the delays came as Ardern said on Tuesday that she would do everything in her power to deny white supremacist Brenton Tarrant a platform for his racist views, a day after the 28-year-old fired his lawyer and said he planned to represent himself in court.

“He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety – that is why you will never hear me mention his name,” Ardern said in an emotional address to a special meeting of parliament, which she opened with the Arabic greeting “as-salaam-alaikum” (peace be upon you).

“He obviously had a range of reasons for committing this atrocious terrorist attack. Lifting his profile was one of them. And that’s something that we can absolutely deny him,” she said, urging the nation to focus on the victims of the massacre in Christchurch.

“I implore you: speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them,” she said. “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless.”

Asked if she would like the trial to occur behind closed doors, Ardern said it was not her decision to make. “One thing I can assure you – you won’t hear me speak his name,” she said.

The killer’s desire for infamy was made clear by the fact that he left behind a convoluted 74-page manifesto before the attack, and also live-streamed footage of the killing on the Al Noor mosque at Deans Avenue.

Tarrant, who was living in Dunedin, a city about a five-hour drive from Christchurch, was charged with murder on Saturday. He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, where police said he was likely to face more charges.

The shooting took place at about 1.30pm on Friday, and the first 111 emergency call was received by 1.41pm. Among the team who responded to the massacre were a gathering of international sharpshooters, including those from Hong Kong and Australia, who were in Christchurch for a specialist police training course.

The lives cut short in the New Zealand mosque massacre

The personnel were not far from the Al Noor mosque near the central city when the attack struck, New Zealand police said on Tuesday.

The victims, who were attacked during Friday prayers, were largely Muslim migrants, refugees and residents from countries including Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Somalia, among others.

Fifty people were killed, including five Indian nationals and one Indonesian.

Indonesian aircraft engineer Lilik Abdul Hamid, 50, was confirmed on Saturday by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to have died. Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon told local media that Lilik, a 16-year employee at the airline, had been a valued member of the engineering team.

“Lilik, his wife, Nina, and their children, Zhania and Gerin, are well-known and loved by our close-knit team of engineers and their families who are now doing all they can to support the family alongside our leadership team and the airline’s special assistance team,” he told the New Zealand Herald.

The massacre also left 50 people injured, of which 30 are still in the Christchurch hospital, authorities said. Nine of them are in a critical condition, including one four-year-old child who was transferred to a hospital in Auckland.

Peter Elms of New Zealand’s immigration department said 65 visas had been granted for overseas family members so far.

Christchurch police said post-mortems had been completed on all 50 victims, but only 12 had been “identified to the satisfaction of the coroner” nearly a week after the rampage.

“We are doing all we can to undertake this work as quickly as possible and return the victims to their loved ones,” a police statement said.

“While identification may seem straightforward the reality is much more complex, particularly in a situation like this.”

As New Zealand grieves, it must come to terms with how hatred was able to take root 

Javed Dadabhai, who travelled from Auckland to help bury his cousin, said families and volunteers had been warned of a slow process.

“The majority of people still have not had the opportunity to see their family members,” he said.

Mohamed Safi, 23, whose father Matiullah Safi died in Al Noor mosque, pleaded for officials to let him identify his father and set a date for his burial.

“There’s nothing they are offering,” Safi, an Afghan refugee, said outside a family support centre.

“They are just saying they are doing their procedures, they are doing their process. But what process? Why do I not know what you are going through to identify the body … Why am I not contacted as an immediate family member?”

The mosque shootings, in which the accused gunman wielded a semi-automatic AR-15, sparked calls for gun law reforms in the nation, where violent crime is rare.

A New Zealand gun shop owner said the store had sold Tarrant four weapons and ammunition online between December 2017 and March 2018, but not the high-powered weapon used in the massacre.

Ardern on Monday said cabinet made in-principle decisions to change the country’s gun laws, which she promised would come within 10 days of the attack.

Christchurch terrorist attack exposes how little Five Eyes partners share on domestic terror threats

She also announced an inquiry into possible lapses in intelligence and security services, and whether the attack could have been prevented, amid speculation spy agencies overlooked white supremacists while overly focusing on monitoring the Muslim community.

More than 250 New Zealand police staff were working on the inquiry in the attacks, including staff from the US FBI and Australia’s Federal Police.

Meanwhile, foreign minister Winston Peters was set to visit Indonesia and Turkey this week.

Although the visit to Indonesia – where he was meant to attend a dialogue on the Indo-Pacific – had been planned for some time, the minister said the significance of the trip could not now be “overstated”.

“First and foremost, it will be an opportunity to mark our appreciation for the sympathy and support of Indonesia and other countries in the region and update them on how this country is responding,” said Peters, who was due to fly to Jakarta on Tuesday night.

Peters said he also intended to travel to Turkey at the request of the Turkish Government, to attend a special ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul.

“This important event will allow New Zealand to join with our partners in standing against terrorism and speaking up for values such as understanding and religious tolerance,” he said.

Reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters NZME