Fiji intensifies repression in 2010
21 January 2010, 11:29AM
The military regime in Fiji has started the new year with renewed attacks against people’s right to freedom of expression and on the independence of the judiciary, through threats, intimidation, discrimination, and use of the law as a tool of oppression.
A senior military officer recently issued a public threat to critics and Amnesty International has identified a number of cases of persecution of high-profile opponents of the regime.
In a 5 January radio interview with the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Army Land Force Commander Pita Driti warned: “There are only a few people who could term as adversaries - but I would discourage them from doing anything and I would like to tell them to keep low and try to cooperate with us in trying to maintain peace otherwise they will be in for something really hard in terms of how we will treat them this year.”
Amnesty International’s Pacific Researcher Apolosi Bose said: “The regime has become comfortable with getting away with human rights abuses, because they are shutting down their opponents one by one.
“With Fiji cracking down even harder on its own people, this is not the time for Australia and other countries in the region to back down from their strong stance. They must intensify their calls for Fiji to immediately halt arbitrary arrests, intimidation, threats, assaults and detention of critics of the regime. Fiji’s neighbours must urge the regime to restore the independence of the judiciary and cooperate with the United Nations in ending human rights abuses.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, who recently visited Fiji, announced last week that New Zealand and Fiji had agreed to improve diplomatic relations. Both countries agreed to appoint new counsellors in their respective missions and decided in principle to appoint new deputy heads of mission. Following this announcement, Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said that at some point Australia and New Zealand will need to resume a dialogue to get Fiji back to democracy. Mr Smith said this dialogue would have to occur under the current Fiji administration.
Human rights violations have been rife in Fiji since Public Emergency Regulations (PER) were imposed in April last year, when then President Ratu Josefa Iloilo abrogated Fiji’s constitution and reappointed Commodore Frank Bainimarama as prime minister. Under the PER, Fiji’s military and security forces retain absolute control over the country’s population. Soldiers and police enjoy complete immunity from prosecution for their actions, including serious violations of human rights.
Amnesty International notes the following recent cases of repression and persecution:
30 December: The government summarily dismissed magistrates Elsie Hudson, Mary Muir and Eparama Rokoika without any explanation on 30 December 2009. According to information received by Amnesty International, Mary Muir was dismissed after criticising actions of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC). The sacking of the three magistrates is a direct interference with the independence of the judiciary, thus undermining a crucial safeguard against human rights violations. Fiji’s Chief Magistrate Ajmal Khan and Magistrate Maika Nakora were summarily dismissed in July and August 2009 respectively under similar circumstances.
1 January Prominent human rights lawyer Imrana Jalal has been persecuted, under legal pretexts, by FICAC. Amnesty International believes that actions taken against Jalal are to punish her for her strong public stance against human rights violations perpetrated by the military since its overthrow of the Laisenia Qarase-led government in December 2006.
On 1 January, FICAC officers served Jalal with seven misdemeanour charges relating to the Public Health (Hotels, Restaurant and Refreshment Bars) Regulations, the Food Safety Act and the Penal Code. The charges relate to a business operated by a company of which she and her husband are directors. Amnesty International believes that these charges, related to minor regulatory infractions, are politically motivated.
On 11 January, officers from FICAC went to Jalal’s office in Suva to serve notice for her to surrender her passport. Later that day in court, Jalal and her lawyer were told that she was being charged under the Prevention of Bribery Promulgation Act 2007 for the same offences. She was also informed that the Act authorises FICAC to seize her passport and to retain it for up to six months. Her current position as Human Rights Advisor for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) and her affiliations with numerous international human rights organisations require her to travel frequently throughout the Pacific region and internationally.
8 January 2010: Army officers went to Trade Unionist Pramod Rae’s home and warned him against organising a strike by members of his union employed by the Bank of Baroda, who had grievances with their employer.
Officials from the Prime Minister’s office also suspended indefinitely 20 workers of the Suva City Council, including some in senior management positions, and seized their office computers. Officials in the Prime Minister’s office accused the suspended workers of being anti-government bloggers.
11 January: Dr Padma Lal, a Fiji-born Australian citizen with a valid work permit for Fiji was denied entry into the country by Immigration officials without any reasons being given. She was detained and sent back to Australia the next day. Her husband, Dr Brij Lal, a prominent Fijian historian, was forced to leave the country after being threatened by senior military officers at the army camp in Suva on 4 November 2009 following his criticism of the Fiji government’s decision to eject senior Australian and New Zealand diplomats. The military threatened to kill him if he remained in Fiji.
12 January: The Prime Minister announced that government would stop the pension payments of pensioners who are “dissenters and critics” of the government. The Pensions and Retirement Allowances Decree 2009 gives the Prime Minister the power to stop pensions or other allowances if a person “…prejudices the orderly functioning or operation of the government, promotes or incites feelings of ill-will and hostility amongst the different classes of population in Fiji, brings hatred or contempt or disaffection against the administration of justice”. These powers are arbitrary, sweeping and violate the human rights to social security and to just and favourable conditions of work.
13 January: The Prime Minister announced a ban on the Methodist Church from holding their annual conference until 2014, accusing church ministers of spying on the nation's military on behalf of the government ousted in the 2006 coup. This order violates Methodist Church worshippers’ rights to freedom of assembly and religion. More information on the persecution of the Methodist church can be found on www.amnesty.org.
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