Tuesday, March 16, 2010



Fiji: Where is Peceli Rinakama?

Two weeks ago, Fijian politician Peceli Rinakama was abducted by soldiers in Suva. Publicity around the case forced the regime to admit after a week that Rinakama was in custody, and then to claim that he had been released. A victory for human rights, right?

Except that according to Coup 4.5, nobody has seen Rinakama since his "release":

Coupfourpointfive has been trying to verify his release as reported last week, but no one has been able to say for sure if Rinakama is out of custody and where he is now.

We have now been told by a SDL member that Rinakama's family is also still in the dark.

It's been confirmed to us that he was arrested with SDL's national director, Peceli Kinivuwai, who has been released but family and party members have no iea of Rinakama's current whereabouts.

Coupfourpointfive's source says the whole situation is uncertain at the very least and there are very real fears for Rinakama's safety.

So, where is Peceli Rinakama? His family don't know, his friends don't know, and the only natural conclusion is that the regime lied about his release and that he is still - unalwfully - in custody.