Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Fiji police seize computers of three prominent lawyers

Posted at 09:12 on 20 May, 2009 UTC

The President of the Fiji Law Society says three lawyers and their computers have been taken in to a police station in Suva.

Dorsami Naidu says the search warrants police used to seize the computers of lawyers Jon Apted, Richard Naidu and Tevita Fa suggests they are suspected of involvement with a blog site.

Tevita Fa is a lawyer for the ousted prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, and Mr Naidu says he is concerned the police will have access to information about the lawyers’ clients.

“There’s a lot of confidential matters. I mean anyone who goes to a solicitor relies on confidentiality and there may be a lot of information and other data and there’s no guarantee that the police will not abuse their powers of search in this case.”

Dorsami Naidu says the lawyers have been taken in under the emergency regulations which are being interpreted in a draconian way.

The police have yet to confirm that the lawyers and their computers have been taken into custody.