Fiji deports Australian newspaper publisher
By Leah McBride Mensching, Tuesday 26 February 2008 at 22:45 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #1324 :: rss
The Fiji Sun's publisher, Russell Hunter, was deported Tuesday after his paper printed reports that the country's finance minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, had engaged in tax evasion.
Hunter was described by the Fijian government as being a threat to national stability. He was given deportation documents Monday night by four soldiers and an immigration official and arrived in Australia Tuesday afternoon, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald that he thought the document was a forgery, and he has “no doubt” his deportation was due to the coverage of Chaudhry's alleged tax evasion.
The media in Fiji is “under threat,” Hunter told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The trouble is there is no law in Fiji. The law is what certain people say it is on any given day and if you don't like it you can argue about it later.”
Netani Rika, editor of Fiji Times Online, said there is a growing “environment of fear” in Fiji, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
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