The Pacific Freedom Forum says the search warrant executed at the Fiji Times newspaper last week, could further erode the right to free expression in Fiji.
The Police were seeking the employment contracts of three staff members charged with sedition, following the publication of an inflammatory letter last year.
The chair of the Forum, Monica Miller says the police tactics seem heavy handed.
The Fiji Times headquarters on Victoria Parade, Suva
Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
Transcript
MONICA MILLER: The latest development is of real concern to us. The fact that the Fiji police went into the Fiji Times office and basically they were looking for the contracts for these key individuals in the Fiji Times newsroom. Couldn't they have asked for a copy of the contracts? I think that this is strong, heavy-handed action by the Fiji police. I think that this will have a chilling effect on the operation of the Fiji Times. Maybe this is scare tactics by the Fiji government. I really hope that there will be international pressure, I see that Amnesty International has spoken and that there are other organisations in Fiji who value the role of the Fiji Times... Fiji Times as we know it has always been a bastion for independent reporting, and that other organisations in Fiji will speak out.
BEN ROBINSON DRAWBRIDGE: Never the less though, considering the content of the article that resulted in the charges, it is rather inflammatory.
MM: Yes, and we the PFF, have suggested that the Fiji Times revisit and look at the processes in the newsroom to prevent this sort of letter to the editor being published. But it's not in the interests of media freedom and freedom of expression to have the courts decided, especially on a charge of sedition and I think that court of public opinion - and you also have other processes - you know you have the media council of Fiji, for example, that this can be addressed. I think that we want to reiterate that the office of prosecutions and the government look at those mechanisms rather than go all out and prosecute on this charge of sedition. Now with these kinds of actions people will think twice before they really express how they feel and I don't think that is healthy for Fiji as a free country.
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