Monday, October 17, 2011



Sedition in Fiji

Back in August, anti-regime graffiti calling for dictator Frank Bainimarama to go started appearing all over Fiji. Last week, five men, one of them a kiwi, were arrested for it, and charged with sedition. The arrests are the usual story we have come to expect from Fiji: the suspects were detained for a week without charge (the legal limit is 48 hours), during which they were threatened with torture by police. They have now been remanded in custody - quite unusual for a crime of speech rather than violence. The chances of them receiving a fair trial in Fiji's post-coup court system (where the government handpicks judges and sacks those that show any commitment to the law) are remote.

Just another example of how Fiji has turned into a tinpot little shithole under Bainimarama. Decent countries don't prosecute people for expressing their dislike of the government. Decent countries don't have to. But then, its been obvious for a while that Fiji isn't a decent country any more, is it?