The London based International Bar Association says it is considering sending a delegation to Fiji to follow up allegations the military assaulted a prominent lawyer.
Richard Naidu was reportedly beaten up whilst taken arbitrarily into military custody in January - he had questioned the constitutional legality of the interim government.
The programme lawyer at the International Bar Association's human rights institute, Joanna Salsbury, says pressure on individual lawyers may herald new pressure on the judiciary:
"We're watching the situation in Fiji very closely because an increasing deterioration in the rule of law"
may well affect the independence of the judiciary, and rights of the legal profession to carry out its duties.
Joanna Salsbury.
