(PINA/IFEX) – Unsigned hate letters to the “Samoa Observer” newspaper were sent from a fax registered under the name of the Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Department, the paper reported on 11 December 1997. The “Samoa Observer” said the letters were traced to a fax of Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, the senior public servant in the […]
(PINA/IFEX) – Unsigned hate letters to the “Samoa Observer”
newspaper were sent from a fax registered under the name of the
Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Department, the paper reported
on 11 December 1997. The “Samoa Observer” said the letters were
traced to a fax of Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, the senior public
servant in the department of Samoan Prime Minister Tofilau Eti
Alesana. Komiti denied sending the letters and said he is
investigating.
**For background to previous harassment of the “Samoa Observer”
and staff, see IFEX alerts dated 4 December, 21 November, 12
September, 24 June 1997, and others**
The letters, which attack “Observer” publisher/editor Savea Sanoa
Malifa and reporter Peter Rees in crude language, came amid
criminal and civil libel actions claiming the paper and its staff
defamed Prime Minister Tofilau; threats by the Prime Minister to
change the law so he can close the “Observer” for “stirring up
trouble”; and a march through the Samoan capital Apia on 10
December by an estimated 5000 people protesting against alleged
government corruption and the cost of living.
