News about a unfettered legal system in Fiji isn’t going to come anytime soon….
Here are all the latest reports ( link from headline to full story). None of it makes for fun reading if you believe in a legal system that shouldn’t be unduly influenced, managed and controlled by politicians.
A presidential decree has been issued to pave the way for the appointment of new judges after the President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo sacked the judiciary last weekend.
The decree scraps the Law Society’s representation on the Judicial Service Commission – the organisation that makes judicial appointments.
The society’s president, Dorsami Naidu believes the society’s absence from the commission will enable the interim government to select judges who back it.
But interim Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khayum says the commission’s new structure makes it more inclusive than it was before.
He says there is no threat to the judiciary’s independence, which he believes was compromised before the 2006 coup.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khayum says some judges will be appointed on Monday and courts could reopen on Tuesday.
Canada condemns Fiji crackdown
OTTAWA (AFP) — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Friday denounced Fiji’s crackdown on democratic rights and the repeal of the South Pacific island nation’s constitution.
"Canada strongly condemns the decision by Fiji’s President Josefa Iloilo to abrogate the 1997 constitution, remove the judiciary, impose emergency rule and defer all elections until 2014," Cannon said in a statement.
"These unacceptable actions are not consistent with freedom, democracy, human rights or the rule of law," he added. "They bring economic turmoil to the people of Fiji and affect the country’s international standing."
Fiji’s military government last Friday imposed a state of emergency and issued a decree to remove all judges and magistrates from their positions
New Zealand Law Society advises against taking judges’ jobs in Fiji
Wellington – New Zealand’s Law Society Thursday urged lawyers and judges not to accept appointments as judges from Fiji’s military regime.
All of Fiji’s judges were sacked last week after three Australian judges sitting as the Court of Appeal ruled that the military government of Voreqe Bainimarama, who seized power in a coup in December 2006, was illegal.
In response to the ruling, the constitution was revoked and emergency powers were declared, including stringent censorship forbidding criticism of the government.
New Zealand and Australian lawyers have frequently served as judges in Fiji, but Law Society President John Marshall said that while the organization could not stop New Zealand lawyers from accepting such jobs, they should avoid working for the Fijian regime.
The society believed this week’s sacking of the judges was unlawful, and the judges were in principle still in office.
“But for practical purposes the regime is not allowing judges to sit, so in this situation I think it would be wrong for New Zealand lawyers to accept appointment as judges in Fiji,” he told Radio New Zealand.
