Police state attack in Fiji - PFF

Fiji police on parade - and under fire for attack on market seller.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands - 

Pacific Freedom Forum is condemning an assault by police and security forces on a market seller in Fiji, as well as his arrest for expressing criticism.

"An ordinary citizen appears to suffer persecution for exerting ordinary rights," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi.

Reports that a market seller in Fiji was hospitalised after being arrested for making comments about the country's military regime are disturbing, says the Forum chairs.

40-year-old Ram Chandra is alleged to have made some comments about the Prime Minister, the military and the government in Suva last month.

In court on 2nd July, his lawyer Naipote Vere said his client was assaulted at three different locations by Police and security officers and he is also an outpatient of St Giles hospital. He appeared again on 11th July and is committed to trial in October.

"The arrest and beating of Mr. Ram Chandra shows a descent by Fiji into petty police state activity," says Gabi.

Reports of the arrest and beating of the market seller, Ram Chandra were carried by Fiji Times, Fiji Village, and Fiji World News.

"PFF calls on the officers involved to be investigated, under proper due process," says Gabi, speaking from Port Moresby.

PFF joins the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights in condemning the assaults, especially as they involve an attack on someone who has been a mental health patient, despite Fiji signing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and issuing a Mental Health decree.

Fiji police have a slogan of Salus Populi, a short version of a Latin phrase meaning “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law".

However PFF co-Chair Monica Miller says the arrest and the beating of a market seller speaks of a trend in the opposition direction for people of Fiji.

"Targeting leading critics of the regime is not a new thing - arresting someone at a market reveals a police and security force more dangerously out of control."

She suggests that regime officials study the role of markets in society, including as a safety valve for expression of public sentiment.

"We ask that colleagues in Fiji monitor situations like this closely and, where they are unable to report themselves, inform domestic and foreign monitors, like the Pacific Freedom Forum," says Miller, based in Pagopago.

LINKS:

NGO Coalition on Human Rights raises concerns over continued restrictions to freedom of expression in Fiji

https://www.facebook.com/republikamag/posts/596497587049013

Market vendor appears on Malicious Act charge

http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/11917/market-vendor-appears-on-malicious-act-charge

Market vendor pleads not guilty to malicious act

http://www.fijivillage.com/?mod=story&id=020713a7a2bf97e5c5967d02d0bd01

Market vendor pleads innocent in malicious act case

http://fijiworldnews.com/market-vendor-pleads-innocent-in-malicious-act-case-9194

Man denies charges

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=238633

CONTACTS :

PFF Chair Titi Gabi | Freelance Journalist | Papua New Guinea  | +67573143929 |  titi.gabipng@gmail.com

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller | KHJ Radio | American Samoa | + 6842584197 | monica@khjradio.com

PFF Projects Lisa Williams Lahari | Media Strategy | Solomon Islands | +6777574230
lisawilliamsonline@gmail.com

PFF Coordinator Jason Brown | Samoa Observer | Samoa | +6857604412 | subeditor@samoaobserver.ws

ABOUT PFF :

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media. We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance. In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community. Our registered base is in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

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