22 Nov 2010

Fiji Law Society says emergency rules not needed

3:42 pm on 22 November 2010

Fiji's Law Society says there is no need for the interim regime's Public Emergency Regulations to be extended again.

The latest round of the 19-month old regulations came into force over the weekend.

They restrict public assembly and what information can be published or broadcast in the media.

The regime said it would lift the restriction once it had imposed a media decree but the decree came into force in June.

The society's president, Dorsami Naidu, says they are having a particular impact on his organisation.

"We can't function. The Law Society's not able to function. We are not able to hold any meetings. Everyone is being forced, indirectly, very subtly to attend the Attorney General's conference. Lawyers are just being brought to heel, as it were."

Dorsami Naidu says the Society has applied for permission to hold an AGM, but has not yet been given it by the Attorney General