Wednesday, January 24, 2007



Fiji: the oppression continues

On Monday, in an interview with Radio New Zealand, Fijian constitutional lawyer Richard Naidu accused the Fijian military of interfering with the judiciary and Fiji's President of being a military puppet. Last night, he was detained by the military for his comments. He has since been released after intervention by the Human Rights Commission and the Attorney-General, but the mesage is clear: the military will not tolerate people criticising or questioning its rule - a fundamental right in a democratic society.

Meanwhile, there's some unintentional irony in FijiLive's misspelling of a military spokesman's claim that Naidu was detained because his comments were

insightful [sic] against public order and simply disrespectful of a person who has shown wisdom.

Clearly, insight into the true nature of the military regime is a crime.

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