Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Fiji deports academic Lal to Australia

Posted at 23:48 on 04 November, 2009 UTC

A former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner, Shamima Ali, says the Australian academic of Fiji origin, Brij Lal, was threatened when he was questioned by the military.

Professor Lal was deported to Australia this morning after being questioned by the military after he commented the interim regime’s expulsion of top New Zealand and Australian diplomats earlier this week in an interview with the ABC.

Shamima Ali says the military took him to the baracks and treated him badly.

“This is like taking us back to the early days of the coup; the military taking people in and I’m not at liberty to say exactly what he went through, but he was humiliated and sworn at and belittled and threatened and so on. That definitely we know that he went through that treatment at the hands of the military.”

Shamima Ali says the military’s behaviour is of concern.