30 Jan 2007

Fiji soldiers seize coup critic Heffernan

3:07 pm on 30 January 2007

Fiji soldiers have arrested one of two activists who have been in hiding after making what the authorities have described as inciting statements.

The director of the Pacific Centre for Public Integrity, Angie Heffernan, was found at a Coral Cost hotel near Sigatoka by plain clothes soldiers.

With her was another strong critic of the interim administration and vice president of the Fiji Law Society, Tupou Draunidalo.

Ms Heffernan is now in police custody being questioned about her statements.

She is likely to face charges against the Public Order Act.

Police and soldiers have yet to find another activist, businesswoman Laisa Digitaki, who has been claiming in the foreign media that she is under the protection of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.