23 Sep 2010

Fiji blames critics for creating hysteria following deportee's death in Australia

11:59 am on 23 September 2010

The Fiji interim government says the death of a Fiji man in an Australian detention center was unnecessary.

Police in Australia are investigating the death of Josefa Rauluni who jumped off a roof top after he was informed he was being deported to Fiji.

Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Information, Sharon Smith Johns, has blamed the Australia-based Fiji Freedom Movement for creating hysteria over the reality in Fiji.

Mrs Smith Johns says the unfortunate incident is being politicised.

It has been revealed that the ousted Fiji prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, had warned the Australian authorities that under the current circumstances in Fiji, Mr Rauluni ran the risk of been taken in by the regime if he returned to Fiji.

The interim regime runs the country by decrees and has powers which cannot be challenged.

Last year, the regime issued a decree giving those involved in the 2000 and 2006 coups immunity from prosecution and civil liability.