10 Nov 2008

March planned in Samoa in support minister detained in US

11:35 am on 10 November 2008

A march is to be held in Samoa tomorrow to show disappointment and frustration over the arrest of Samoa's associate minister of Trade and Tourism, Hans Joachim Keil, in the United States.

The associate minister is held in the US state of Missouri under strict bail conditions as a result of two immigration charges against him relating to him holding US citizenship.

The march in his support is being organised by the group opposed to the government's decision to switch the side of the road people drive on, or PASS.

The chairman of PASS, Tole'afoa Solomona To'ailoa, says a group of people involved in the organising of the protest march for Mr Keil had approached the committee for support.

Mr Keil was one of the ruling party MPs who did not endorse the government's controversial Road Transport legislation.