By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim government is seeking jail sentences for another newspaper editor and publisher over contempt of court charges. The interim Attorney General is in the midst of a contempt proceeding against the Fiji Times editor and publisher because they published a letter to the editor which criticized the High Court ruling that declared the 2006 coup legal. A second newspaper, the Fiji Daily Post, will make its first appearance in court tomorrow. The Attorney General has said he is seeking a jail sentence against its editor, Robert Wolfgramm, and Australian-based publisher, Allan Hickling.
Deputy Information Secretary, Major Neumi Leweni, was one of the speakers at the 10th Attorney Generals Conference near Sigatoka where he confirmed that the interim Government has no plan to curtail media freedom even though they are working on media promulgation. Major Leweni said the interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has assured Fiji during the World Press Freedom Day that media freedom in the nation is guaranteed under the Constitution.
Major Leweni said, “Government recognizes that the media has a significant part to play in conveying information for the purposes of informing, educating and entertaining the public, and that information ranges from the more serious issues of politics, economic, social and cultural interests to the lesser serious matters of entertainment and sports, etc, depending on one’s perception.”
Major Leweni also said the Government recognizes that it needs to foster and cultivate an improved relationship with the media as partners in national development.
For more information, please see:
Fiji Government – Major Leweni – Address at the 10th Attorney-General’s Conference – 1 December 2008
Fijilive – We Will Not Curtail Media Freedom: Govt – 30 November 2008
Fijilive – Army work not appreciated: Major Leweni – 29 November 2008
Pacific Islands Report – Fiji Military Government Takes Aim at Editors – 28 November 2008
