The editor of the Fiji Times says the publisher of the paper, Evan Hannah, is on a flight to South Korea from where he will be flown to Australia.
Mr Hannah was arrested yesterday for allegeldy having violated the terms of his visa because of articles published by his paper.
Mr Hannah was to be presented in Suva this afternoon for an appeal hearing against the deportation order issued yesterday.
The interim Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has told a news agency he had just returned from an overseas trip and did not know whether Mr Hannah had been deported.
He said he is not fully aware of what is happening.
But the editor of the Fiji Times, Netani Rika, disputes this.
"I think the interim government is fully aware of what happens this morning, Mr Hannah is on a flight to Korea, he has an onward ticket to Sydney we expect him to leave Korea for Sydney at 7pm Korean time."
Netani Rika.
The Fiji Law Society has deplored the behaviour of the interim government which for a second time has deported the publisher of yet another daily newspaper.
The Law Society president, Isireli Fa, says these matters constitute a turning point in the question of whether the rule of law is operating in Fiji.
He says it appears that the court order had been served on the appropriate authorities in good time for them to comply with it.
Mr Fa says the irony of it is that this occurred one day before the celebration of Media Freedom Day.
The Pacific Islands News Association has deplored the action of the interim Government.
The PINA president Joseph Ealedona says the deportation is a blatant attack on the freedom of the media in Fiji.
