Fiji's Human Rights Commission says there is real concern in the community over the release on bail of a number of remand prisoners facing serious charges.
Justice Nazhat Shameem ruled that five out of seven prisoners who were being held in the remand block at Suva Prison should be given bail because of inhumane conditions.
Of the original seven, one had since been sentenced and another already given bail.
Justice Shameem acknowledged the decision could create serious law and order problems
The Principal Legal Officer with the Fiji Human Rights Commission, Usaia Ratuvili, says the release, on bail, of prisoners charged with serious offences was something the court had to struggle with:
"The concerns out there in the public and with the police officers who spent a lot of time and effort to arrest these suspects in the first place just to seem them being released on bail, not based on any of the conditions they have put forward, but basically because of the conditions they're in. These are very serious factors that had to be considered, we did not take them lightly."
The Principal Legal Officer with the Fiji Human Rights Commission, Usaia Ratuvili
