Samoa

(PINA/IFEX) – A Samoan judge has refused to lift his injunction preventing the “Samoa Observer” newspaper from publishing leaked details of allowances and advances paid to senior staff of the Samoan-government owned Polynesian Airlines (PAL). In a lengthy decision delivered in the Supreme Court in Apia on 24 February 1999, Justice Andrew Wilson upheld his […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 19 February 1999, a Samoa Supreme Court judge reserved his decision on the “Samoa Observer” application to lift an injunction preventing publication of a report about Samoan Government-owned Polynesian Airlines. After hearing submissions, Justice Andrew Bray Cameron Wilson said he would give his decision on 24 February. **Updates IFEX alert of 17 […]

(PINA/IFEX) – An injunction issued by the Samoa Supreme Court prevented distribution of the 16 February 1999 edition of the daily newspaper “Samoa Observer”. The injunction was sought by the Samoan Government-owned Polynesian Airlines and related to a leaked list of advances and allowances to senior airline staff the “Samoa Observer” was publishing in this […]

(PINA/IFEX) – An injunction issued by the Samoa Supreme Court prevented distribution of the 16 February 1999 edition of the daily newspaper “Samoa Observer”. The injunction was sought by the Samoan Government-owned Polynesian Airlines and related to a leaked list of advances and allowances to senior airline staff the “Samoa Observer” was publishing in this […]

(PINA/IFEX) – The award-winning Samoan editor-publisher Savea Sano Malifa says if the Samoan government wants to win media awards, it should free the media it controls. It should open them to others of different political affiliations, Malifa says in a report carried by the Pacific Islands news agency “Pacnews” on 25 January 1999. **Updates IFEX […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 27 October 1998, Savea Sano Malifa, editor-publisher of the “Samoa Observer”, was named the 1998 winner of the Commonwealth’s most prestigious press freedom honour, the Astor Award. The announcement was made during the Astor Award dinner at the Commonwealth Press Union’s biennial conference, being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. **Updates IFEX alerts […]

(PINA/IFEX) – “Samoa Observer” editor-publisher Savea Sano Malifa and his newspaper have got another heavy financial blow. On 16 September 1998, the Samoa Supreme Court awarded Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, $WS75,000 court costs against them, in addition to the earlier $WS50,000 defamation judgement in the case. But, Justice Sir Gordon Bisson refused to […]

(PINA/IFEX) – A judge has reserved his decision on the criminal libel charges against “Samoa Observer” editor-publisher Savea Sano Malifa and the paper’s former Samoan language editor, Fuimaono Fereti Tupua. It came after five days of hearings in the Supreme Court in Apia, the Samoan capital. Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, claims he was […]

(PINA/IFEX) – “Samoa Observer” editor-publisher Savea Sano Malifa said on 13 July 1998 that he may have to sell the newspaper after losing a civil defamation action brought against him and the newspaper by Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana. It came after the release of a judgment by the Samoan Supreme Court in Apia […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 21 May 1998, Samoa’s main independent news organisation, the daily newspaper “Samoa Observer”, said it would stop attending news conferences by the official Government spokesperson. An editorial written by the paper’s editor-publisher, Savea Sano Malifa, called the news conferences held by Deputy Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malilelegaoi a “mockery of justice being […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoan news organisations reacted with shock to a Government decision that public money will, in future, be used to pay for Government leaders to sue the news media. On 15 May 1998, Samoan Government Minister and spokesperson Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi announced that leaders who are “victims of wrongful accusations” may now ask the […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 12 May 1998, Lance Polu, president of the Journalists Association of Western Samoa, said he will seek a meeting with Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, over death threats a Government minister allegedly made to Molesi Taumaoe. Taumaoe is the Samoa-based assistant editor of the weekly Samoan-language newspaper “Samoa Post.” Taumaoe reported […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoan journalists have been ordered not to report proceedings of a Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of a police file showing Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana was convicted in 1996 and fined on two counts of theft. On 28 April 1998, Commission Chairman Maiava Iulai Toma told reporters that they were banned […]

(PINA/IFEX) – The criminal libel charge brought by Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, against two “Samoa Observer” editors has been sent back to the Supreme Court for trial. This follows a decision delivered by the Court of Appeal in the Samoan capital, Apia, on 7 March 1998. Supreme Court Chief Justice Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu, […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s Chief Justice has finally ruled that constitutional issues raised by the defence in the criminal libel trial of “Samoa Observer” publisher Savea Sano Malifa and his Samoan language editor, Fuimaono Fereti Tupua, will be referred to the Court of Appeal. The appeal court’s next sitting is scheduled for March 1998. **Updates IFEX […]

(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 […]