SUVA (AFP) — Fiji has barred a legal delegation from visiting the country to review the workings of the justice system since the 2006 coup, the International Bar Association (IBA) said in a statement Wednesday.
The organisation condemned threats by the South Pacific nation's Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, against a visit by a high level IBA-delegation scheduled for next month.
The IBA said it had received a letter from Sayed-Khaiyum on Monday, saying the Fijian government did not welcome or approve of the visit scheduled for December 8 to 12 and would take "appropriate steps" if the IBA attempted to visit Fiji.
It is the second time in less than a year that the delegation of senior legal figures from Australia and Malaysia has been barred from visiting. They were also turned away in February this year.
"The threat made by the attorney-general against the delegation is unacceptable in a free and democratic society and reflects badly on the state of affairs in Fiji", said IBA executive director Mark Ellis.
Following the overthrow of the elected government by military chief Voreqe Bainimarama in December 2006 the country's chief justice was sacked and the military regime appointed new judges.
In October, acting Chief Justice Antony Gates ruled the country's president Ratu Josefa Iloilo had acted legally in appointing Bainimarama as interim prime minister after he toppled the elected government.
The IBA said Wednesday it was disappointed that the Fijian government did not support an independent review of the rule of law and independence of the judiciary in Fiji.
But it added it still planned to carry out a review through "other avenues" and a report would be issued in the near future.
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