(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 24 October 2000 letter to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, CPJ expressed its alarm over the recent harassment of three Radio Fiji journalists who had aired a controversial news item alleging divisions within the Fijian military concerning the composition of the interim government. Military authorities pressured the three journalists to violate a […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 24 October 2000 letter to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, CPJ expressed its alarm over the recent harassment of three Radio Fiji journalists who had aired a controversial news item alleging divisions within the Fijian military concerning the composition of the interim government.
Military authorities pressured the three journalists to violate a basic professional ethic by disclosing the confidential military source for this report.
On 20 October, at 9:00 a.m. (local time), military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama phoned
Francis Herman, chief editor and acting chief executive officer of the state-owned radio station. Bainimarama asked Herman to disclose the source of a news segment that had aired earlier that morning, reporting that certain elements within the military opposed the appointment of Vice President Ratu Jope Seniloli as acting president during the president’s forthcoming visit to Australia.
Herman told CPJ that Bainimarama had threatened to arrest him unless he identified the anonymous military source quoted in the story. Herman declined to reveal the source.
At 10:30 a.m., around ten soldiers arrived at the Radio Fiji headquarters in the capital city of Suva, and took Herman into custody, along with news director Vasiti Waqa and reporter Maca Lutunauga. The three journalists were told that Bainimarama had ordered their detention for questioning under the provisions of the emergency decree, which was imposed following the 19 May coup led by George Speight.
Fiji’s constitution is currently suspended, and its civil-liberty protections are not guaranteed under the current state of emergency.
From 11:00 a.m. to nearly 4:00 p.m., military officers interrogated the journalists at army headquarters in Suva. According to Herman, the officers pressed them to reveal the name of the unidentified military source from that morning’s report, but did not demand either a retraction or an apology. At approximately 4:00 p.m., police officers arrived and took each of the three journalists to separate rooms, where they were again interrogated.
Police then escorted the three men to the central police station. They were detained for close to an hour, and then released with the warning that they might face charges under state security provisions of the emergency decree.
In a press release posted the same day on the government’s web site, Home Minister Ratu Talemo Ratakele stated that Radio Fiji had “acted in a manner which can be construed as seriously prejudicial to the national interest, public order, and national security of Fiji,” and said its actions were “tantamount to destabilisation.”
In a 21 October interview with Radio Australia, Assistant Commissioner of Police Jahir Khan stated that the journalists had escaped prosecution thanks to a legal loophole. Khan added that government lawyers were drafting legislation that would, among other things, force journalists to reveal the source of their stories.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– stating that you are dismayed by his government’s blatant disregard for press freedom, an internationally recognised human right
– expressing your concern that in the absence of constitutional protections and other democratic safeguards, journalists in Fiji are particularly vulnerable to arbitrary abuses of state power
– urging His Excellency to instruct army officials to refrain from such authoritarian tactics in the future, and to pledge publicly that press freedom will not be threatened under his interim administration
– noting that in order for journalists to perform their civic duty of reporting the news,
confidential sources must be absolutely certain that their identity will be protected
– explaining that for this reason, you hope that his government will abandon its extra-legal persecution of Herman, Waqa, and Lutunauga
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Ratu Josefa Iloilo
President, Republic of Fiji
Office of the President
Suva, Fiji
Fax: +679 301 645
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
