A Fiji newspaper publisher deported for being a security threat to the military government has won the country's top journalism award.
Australian Russell Hunter, who published the Fiji Sun, was awarded the Robert Keith-Reid award for outstanding journalism at the annual Fiji Awards for Media Excellence at the weekend.
Mr Hunter was expelled from Fiji in February by the military junta running the country after his newspaper printed a series of articles alleging tax evasion by a key government minister.
He says the award showed his deportation was only because of the articles he published.
Mr Hunter says the award is surprising, but it is also very fulfilling.
He says, in his view, it totally vindicates the stand taken by the Fiji Sun in general.
