One of three New Zealand journalists detained by police overnight in Fiji is describing the experience as bizarre.
Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings, investigations editor Melanie Reid and cameraman Hayden Aull at morning tea with Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Photo: RNZ/Lice Movono
The journalists were released without charge this morning after being held for 13 hours.
They were arrested and held following an attempt to interview a controversial Chinese resort developer, which has been accused of environmental damage on a tourist island near Nadi.
Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings, who was one of those arrested, spoke to reporter Lice Movono straight after his release.
He said they faced accusations of trespass last night and spent an uncomfortable night sleeping on the floor in a CID office.
They were released after the government intervened, and Mr Jennings said the prime minister Frank Bainimarama apologised to them in person.
"The last 18 hours have been quite bizarre," he said. "From being in a holding area in downtown Suva police station - which I can assure you is no five-star hotel - to being given a police escort to Parliament and brought up to see the prime minister and given a formal apology.
"Doesn't happen every day that's for sure."
He said they thought at first that it was a joke.
Mark Jennings Photo: RNZ / Dru Faulkner
"We really thought someone was playing a joke on us when the police knocked at the door and said 'you need to come down to the station, someone's made an allegation of trespass against you.'
"We realised that it wasn't a joke when we got to the police station. They were taking statements from Freesoul employees where we had visited earlier in the day."
Mr Jennings said the allegations by employees of the company Freesoul Real Estate were clearly trumped up.
"We thought that the police would dismiss it fairly quickly, then it became apparent that they weren't going to.
"We were made to wait for a long period of time before any formal processing took place. Then some formal interviews started but they weren't finished and we were told we could sleep in an adjacent room on the floor and we would be spoken again to in the morning."
He said at first they thought they would be put in a cell.
"Then the policemen who were dealing with us thought that that would not be good particularly for the female reporter with us, Melanie Read.
"Then they said 'we'll put you in this small room' which was adjacent to the CID office. It basically had a table in it and we were able to sleep on the floor, the three of us and one of the policemen lent me a jacket ... the room was pretty cold because of the air conditioning.
"We weren't mistreated at all ... it was a case of not knowing though what was going to happen.
"What transpired in the end is that when the police commissioner arrived this morning he said to us 'I don't believe that you had a criminal intent when you went there you ask questions', we said 'that's correct, we don't know why we're being held'.
He said the commissioner told them about five minutes later that they would be released, and later apologised.
He said police allowed them to contact people and they also had access to a lawyer.
"He [the lawyer] said that he didn't think he could help much in this situation and talked about Chinese influence, I don't know what the truth of that is but we were detained."
The trio were then taken to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama under guard. He also apologised and they were then released.
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama with Newsroom journalists Melanie Reid, Mark Jennings and Hayden Aull. Photo: Twitter / Frank Bainimarama
The E Tū union, which represents journalists, condemned the detention of the three New Zealand journalists.
Union representative Paul Tolich said while the release of the journalists was welcome news, they should never have been detained in the first place.
He says the action of the Fijian police are another example of the Pacific nation's intolerance towards a free and independent press.
Media Freedom Committee chair Miriyana Alexander said she was pleased commonsense had prevailed.
She said freedom of the press was a fundamental part of any democracy and journalists should be free to go about their lawful business without such impediment.
