New Zealand Immigration has confirmed that a visa has not been denied to a judge in Fiji, but that the application is still being assessed.
Fiji's interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Kaiyum had claimed the judge, Justice Anjala Wati, had been seeking to bring her 20-month-old child to New Zealand for an urgent eye operation.
The Head of Immigration New Zealand, Andrew Annakin, says no information about an urgent medical condition was submitted at the time the visa application was lodged.
The President of Fiji's Law Society, Dorsami Naidu, believes it is inappropriate for the Attorney General to be stepping into the issue given his regime is in itself illegal :
"For the Attorney General to be talking about the independence of the judiciary and separation of powers I think that's a joke in itself"
New Zealand Immigration says it has shown consistent flexibility where humanitarian, medical or compassionate grounds have been substantiated.
