Transcript
Charges of inciting communal hatred filed against the four men and the newspaper in 2016 were amended last year to sedition, carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Representing the letter writer Josaia Waqabaca, lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh says the not guilty verdict is a victory for the people of Fiji.
"This is a victory for freedom of speech and expression and the right to have freedom of speech and expression for the people of Fiji. It has become quite obvious that the government of Fiji has continued to charge people with sedition to suppress freedom of speech and also political dissent. This particular case and outcome is a huge victory for the people of Fiji."
The Fiji Times general manager and publisher Hank Arts says the verdict is a relief and a victory for the integrity of the newspaper, although it came at great cost.
"There were four law firms involved, the best law firms in the country, plus a New Zealand QC. But when there are jail terms involved what choice do you have? Luckily, the Fiji Times is a robust business, it's a very good business, it's got massive support in Fiji. It's going to take us a couple of years to get some equilibrium back into our accounts but we can afford it. It's just one of those things that we have to do and can do."
The secretary general of the Fijian Media Association Stanley Simpson says the charges should never have been brought.
"We would have advised the government from the beginning to follow the process that they themselves put in place, their own Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA). Which is, if you have a complaint against a media organisation, put the complaint to MIDA, it doesn't have to court, let's try and resolve it first. I know that the Fiji Times was willing to make any clarification, any correction for any mistake they may have done. If they don't act and you feel still aggrieved then you can take things further but in this case no opportunity was given for them to at least correct, or clarify, or apologise, or anything the governmnet had asked for."
The newspaper's editor in chief Fred Wesley says the not guilty verdict will allow the Fiji Times to focus on this year's general election.
"From an editorial perspective it's business as usual. I'll be back in the office tomorrow. We'll continue to do what we've always been doing, making sure are stories are balanced, fair. This year we have a very, very important year before us, we have the 2018 general elections. This is one issue we had wanted to get past so that we could focus on the 2018 elections and that is what we are going to be doing now."
But Fiji's first coup leader and now leader of the opposition SODELPA party, Sitiveni Rabuka, says the sedition charges have had a chilling effect on Fiji media.
"Well first of all the high profile freedom we enjoyed in our media is no longer there. People are still restricted in what they can freely say. The sedition law is still there while most other countries decided to do away with sedition laws because it demonstrates real freedom to objectively criticise governments."
Sitiveni Rabuka says if elected he'll defend the media's right to free expression, even if he doesn't agree with them.
