IPS-English MEDIA-FIJI: Activists Condemn Expulsion of Aussie Publisher
 
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:28:16 -0800

 
Shailendra Singh

SUVA, Feb 26  (IPS)  - Media organisations and civil society groups
in Fiji have condemned the deportation overnight of an expatriate
newspaper publisher by Fiji's interim government.


The Australian managing director and publisher of the 'Fiji Sun'
daily, Russell Hunter, was arrested at his Suva home Monday night
by two men claiming to be from the immigration department. He was
put on a Sydney-bound flight out of Nadi International Airport on
Tuesday.  

A media statement issued by Fiji's department of information said
Hunter had been declared a ‘prohibited immigrant'. ”This action was
taken after the Department of Immigration received credible information
that Mr Hunter was engaged in activities that not only contravened
the conditions attached to his work permit, but also made him a Prohibited
Immigrant under Section 13(2)(g) of the new Immigration Act 2003 that
came into force on 03 January 2008,which states that a non-citizen
becomes a Prohibited Immigrant if it is deemed by the Minister that
the person has been conducting himself in a manner prejudicial to
the peace, defence, public safety, public health, security or good
government of the Fiji Islands.”

But the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA)'s president, Joseph
Ealedona, said the sudden deportation of Hunter, made without a convincing
explanation from the interim government, was a serious threat to the
freedom of expression and information.

Ealedona said that the unilateral action bordered on that by police
states and reflected the dire need for respect for rule of law and
the rights of citizens to information. ”We urge the interim government
to have restraint and to understand that they too have the right to
respond and place the record straight if there has been any misreporting.”

The Fiji Sun had, in recent weeks, published a series of articles
on allegations of tax evasion against an interim government minister,
later identified as finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry. It was also
critical of some of the interim government policies, including a controversial
proposal on the de-reservation of native lands. 

Fiji Sun editor Leone Cabenatabua said he believed that the articles
highlighting alleged tax evasion by the interim finance minister was
the reason for Hunter's deportation. ”They took him with just the
shorts he was wearing and a shirt,” Cabenatabua said. The Fiji Media
Council said it was shocked at the arbitrary manner in which Hunter
was deported, and described it as a blatant assault on media freedom
in Fiji.

It said the action was taken without due process being followed;
without regard for Hunter's fundamental rights; without him having
access to legal advice and without any consideration for the plight
of Hunter's family.

Council chairman Daryl Tarte added that the deportation took place
despite an order from the High Court in Suva restraining the director
of immigration from deporting Hunter.

Tarte questioned the validity of the allegations made against Hunter.
”The minster's justification for the deportation is that he is a prohibited
immigrant under the new immigration act that came into force on 3rd
January 2008. No specific details of what Mr Hunter is supposed to
have done were given,” he said.

As concerns mounted over the deportation, Fiji's interim Prime Minister
Voreqe Bainimarama issued a press release saying ‘media freedom is
secure and guaranteed'. 

Bainimarama, who seized power in a coup in December 2006, however,
said that while the government was committed to media freedom, the
media must recognise that there are limitations to the constitutional
guarantees on freedom of the press.  ”The performance of the media
recently leaves much to be desired. Some of its reporting has been
‘inciteful' and destabilising and therefore a threat to national security
and stability.”

It was Bainimarama's second broadside against the media in the last
three days. In a nationally televised speech on Sunday, he accused
journalists in Fiji of being unethical, and singled out the Fiji Sun
and Fiji Television for some of their stories, including those concerning
the tax evasion allegations against Chaudhry.

The Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC), however, said Hunter's deportation
was ‘‘an attack on the media and a clear threat to the freedom of
information and the constitutional right of freedom of expression''.
Edwina Kotoisuva, deputy coordinator of FWCC, said it showed evidence
of the entrenched nature of the military dictatorship in Fiji. 

The recent events, Kotoisuva said, cast an even greater shadow over
the human rights situation in Fiji and the general deterioration in
law and order.  
”We are supposed to be moving towards a general election in March
2009 and yet we don't see any commitment to democracy through their
actions. The Interim regime should at least be a bit more principled
in their approach to these issues,”  Kotoisuva told IPS. 

Another non-government organisation, The Pacific Centre for Public
Integrity, said the deportation was a direct act of aggression by
an illegal regime against media freedom and independence. Spokesperson
Angie Heffernan says the decision would affect the country's return
to democracy.



*****
+ AUSTRALIA: Activists Slam Neo-Colonialism in the Pacific  (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39648)
+ ExPress Freedom - IPS Focus  (http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/expressfreedom/index.asp)


(END/IPS/AP/IP/IC/PF/DV/CS/HD/SHS/RDR/08)


 
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