The wife of deported Fiji Times Publisher Evan Hannah is looking for answers after her husband was taken from their family home by men saying they had orders to deport him.
Dr Katarina Tuinamoana speaking from their family home yesterday, said she was still in the dark about the whole episode, which occurred less than 48 hour before World Media Freedom Day.
“I still do not understand in what way my husband was a threat. He was, in my opinion at least, only doing his job as the publisher of The Fiji Times.
“If the authorities do think that he was a threat to national security, I would be really grateful if they could specify in what way. A small explanation would be very welcomed. How was he a threat? Why was he removed? Why was he removed from his family home? Why was he taken out of the country in such distressing circumstances?"
She is also calling out for proper procedures to be followed.
“If they wanted to remove him there’s a proper way to do it - with an explanation. Not in the middle of the night. Not by removing his mobile phone and cutting off all contact with his family. Not just for me and my son. But for my parents as well, my sister and my extended family.
“There’s a way to go about things like this and the way that this situation has been handled is not the way to do this.”
Evan Hannah, an Australian citizen, was removed from his home in Tamavua late Thursday by men armed with deportation orders. He was then taken to Nadi International Airport and put on a Korean Air flight bound for Seoul, Korea.
He was initially supposed to board FJ911, an Air Pacific flight, scheduled to leave Nadi for Sydney at 9am on Friday. Airline officials refused to board him because of a Court Order issued by High Court Judge Justice FIlimoni Jitoko demanding that he be produced in the High Court in Suva at 3PM that day.
He was then transferred to the Korean Air flight for Seoul.
Police commissioner Commodore Esala Teleni on Friday denied the involvement of Police in Hannah’s deportation. And Immigration director Viliame Naupoto said his department was following ‘directives’.
The Fiji Media Council, NGOs and the governments of Australia and New Zealand have strongly criticized Hannah’s deportation with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark saying that the deportation of the Fiji Times Publisher was not conducive to Fiji’s holding free and fair elections.
Evan Hannah, according to reports on ABC, on his arrival in Sydney told the waiting press that his deportation was another illustration of the Interim Government’s lack of understanding of the concept of media freedom.
