By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
SUVA, Fiji – Today, the Fiji High Court dismissed all charges against a businessman who was accused last year of plotting to kill Fiji’s interim prime minister.
Last November, Mr. Ballu Khan, a businessman from New Zealand, was viciously beaten by police and subsequently hospitalized. He was then arrested on suspicion of conspiring to assassinate Fiji’s interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, as well as two other cabinet members. Mr. Khan was kept in custody for 60 days without appearing before a judge.
After suffering the beating, Mr. Khan was unable to walk, and he underwent two operations to remove blood clots.
“I probably came very close to either being paralyzed or killed. The most dangerous injury I had was at the base of my skull, and the doctors thought I had a basal skull fracture,” Mr. Khan told New Zealand Herald reporters.
Mr. Khan’s lawyer, Peter Williams QC, says that Mr. Khan has been granted a permanent stay as a result of the police and military’s unlawful treatment.
Today, Justice Andrew Bruce of Fiji’s High Court, held that Mr. Khan was unlawfully detained after police failed to both charge him with an offense in a reasonable period of time, and to provide him with access to an attorney. These failures, Justice Bruce says, are a denial of Mr. Khan’s fundamental human rights.
“. . .Mr Khan’s rights were violated on a sufficiently egregious basis that to countenance such behavior would indeed bring the system of justice under law in Fiji into disrepute if it was simply left to pass,” Justice Bruce said.
Justice Bruce admitted that granting a stay is unusual, but was necessary in this case because Mr. Khan’s fundamental right to personal liberty was violated.
Justice Bruce added, “Personal liberty is a basic human right. While it is invidious to rank human rights, personal liberty must, on any view, be in the upper ranks of human rights. The right to confidential legal advice is, on any view, fundamental to the maintenance of the rule of law and must rank in the same level as rights to access to justice and the courts.”
The High Court’s decision to uphold Mr. Khan’s human rights comes at a pivotal time in Fiji’s political landscape. In 2006, Bainimarama led a bloodless coup of Fiji’s Federal Government. Since that time, he has promised to restore democracy to Fiji but has yet to relinquish power or hold elections. Last month, a three judge court validated the 2006 coup, giving legitimacy to the interim government.
Mr. Khan told reporters today that he hopes to go home to New Zealand as soon as possible.
For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji court drops charges against NZ man Khan – 12 November 2008
Fiji Times – Ballu Walks – 13 November 2008
Radio New Zealand International – Ballu Khan’s lawyer says compensation will be sought – 13 November 2008
New Zealand Herald – NZ businessman held in Fiji to claim damages – 13 November 2008
