The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, is deeply concerned by the ongoing intimidation and censorship of the Fijian press since the military coup d’état of 5 December 2006. In the most alarming development, Fiji’s Daily Post Editor-in-Chief, Robert Wolfgramm, is to be deported.
Commenting on these events, IPI director Johann P. Fritz said, “At times of crisis the Fijian people must be allowed to rely on an independent media. Wolfgramm’s deportation is a flagrant attempt to influence the media’s reporting and it is further evidence that the perpetrators of the coup are more interested in protecting their own image than in upholding basic constitutional rights.”
“We once again urge the Fijian military to respect freedom of expression and the freedom to hold opinions without interference as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Fritz said.
According to information before IPI, the Fijian military has continued to limit press freedom and intimidate members of the press despite issuing guarantees to the contrary.
Staff members at the Daily Post were subjected to violent threats in the period leading up to the coup, which forced the newspaper to temporarily close its offices. Although violent threats have stopped since the coup was first carried out, soldiers have been posted intermittently in the offices of media organisations, and journalism is being conducted in an environment, which IPI’s sources have described as “paranoid” and “uncertain.”
There is widespread confusion about the rights of citizens at this time, including the constitutionally protected right to free speech.
On 6 December, Commodore Bainimarama self-declared a state of emergency, which according to the coup leaders, suspended the Bill of Rights provisions under section 187 (3) of the Fijian constitution. This includes a suspension of section 30, the section guaranteeing freedom of speech and press freedom. The military has, however, issued public statements on at least two occasions guaranteeing the right to free speech.
In the most recent development, military officials paid an afternoon visit to the offices of the Daily Post on 14 December to issue instructions to the newspaper’s editorial staff. These instructions included an order to cease printing any photographic material showing the Fijian military holding guns, as well as an order to reduce negative reporting of the military’s actions. The meaning of this last order remains unclear.
Approximately one hour later at 4.30 pm local time, the military returned to the newspaper’s headquarters and “requested” that Wolfgramm accompany them to the Queen Elizabeth barracks in Fiji’s capital, Suva, for a further meeting. During the meeting, Wolfgramm’s Australian passport was confiscated and he was informed that he would be deported from Fiji on 15 December.
