2 May 2008

Fiji newspaper chief in police custody

5:31 am on 2 May 2008

The publisher of the Fiji Times newspaper, Evan Hannah, has been taken to Nadi airport apparently to be deported from the country.

Our correspondent in Suva, Matelita Ragogo quotes the paper's editor, Netani Rika, as confirming that Mr Hannah was taken to Nadi International Airport in a police vehicle.

Meanwhile the newspaper's lawyer has told the fijilive website he made an urgent application challenging the deportation with the Fiji High Court.

He says as a result Justice Jitoko has ordered that Mr Hannah be produced in the Suva court this afternoon.

The police action against Mr Hannah comes on the eve of World Media Freedom Day which the interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has marked with trenchant criticism of the local press.

In February the Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter was deported to Australia with the interim Government claiming he was a threat to the country's security.