22 May 2007

RSF condemns Fiji clampdown on bloggers

4:17 am on 22 May 2007

The international press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders, has condemned a decision by the Fiji military authorities to block access to blogs critical of the army and members of the government on the pretext that they pose a threat to national security.

The organisation says it objects to the misuse of the national security argument to step up control of the Internet.

It says this is an unprecedented step in a country where the press is regularly threatened by the authorities.

It says this new policy of filtering the Net is very worrying.

After staging the coup last December, the military commnader and interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainaimarama, has sais he will uphold media freedom.