Newspaper chief tells of Fiji chase
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 May 2008: 5.
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In response, his phone was removed and and he was refused permission to speak to his wife, his lawyers or to consular officials. "They were breaching all known human rights obligations," he said. "They clearly had orders to deport me and they were going to execute them any way they could."
Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said "consular access to Mr [Hannah] was reprehensively denied".
Fiji's interim immigration minister, Ratu Epel Ganilau, told the Fiji Times yesterday that Mr Hannah's deportation was lawful because he had breached national security through the publication of recent stories. He said Mr Hannah had chosen to ignore warnings.
FIJIAN officials detained newspaper publisher Evan Hannah for a night and denied him access to telephones and consular assistance during their cloak-and-dagger efforts last week to deport him.
Mr Hannah, an Australian citizen and publisher of the Fiji Times, arrived back in Sydney on Saturday morning after being removed from the country on Friday morning.
He said yesterday that Fijian immigration officials had defied High Court orders rescinding his deportation.
He said he was held overnight after his arrest in Suva on Thursday, had his phone removed and was denied consular assistance, before being placed on a Korean Air flight to Seoul. Other airlines refused to carry him.
Through its editorials, The Fiji Times, owned by News Limited,publisher of The Australian, has persistently questioned the legitimacy of the military Government.
Mr Hannah, who was forced to leave behind his Fijian wife and one-year-old son, had been called in to face government officials twice this year.
The latest events follow the deportation in February of another Australian citizen, Russell Hunter, publisher of the country's second newspaper, the Fiji Sun.
After Mr Hunter's expulsion, lawyers at the Fiji Times were prepared for a similar move.
Mr Hannah's first call when he realised the police were outside his home on Thursday evening was to the company lawyers, who moved swiftly to get thedeportation order rescinded through the High Court.
Although successful, the orders had no effect on those holding him. Mr Hannah only had time to pack a small bag before being driven out of Suva towards theairport at Nadi three hours away, closely pursued by media cars.
Ten kilometres into the journey, the chasing media were blocked by a government vehicle. Mr Hannah was driven up a side road and transferred into another government vehicle. The car he had been in then resumed its course, acting as a decoy.
His guards waited up a side lane until it was clear the media had fallen for the ruse, then he was driven to the house of an immigration official, where he spent an uncomfortable night.
Mr Hannah told everybody who dealt with him they were in breach of the High Court orders.
In response, his phone was removed and and he was refused permission to speak to his wife, his lawyers or to consular officials. "They were breaching all known human rights obligations," he said. "They clearly had orders to deport me and they were going to execute them any way they could."
Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said "consular access to Mr Hannah was reprehensively denied".
Fiji's interim immigration minister, Ratu Epel Ganilau, told the Fiji Times yesterday that Mr Hannah's deportation was lawful because he had breached national security through the publication of recent stories. He said Mr Hannah had chosen to ignore warnings.
At a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, the High Court is expected to demand an explanation from government officials as to why its orders were ignored.
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