May 20
Ron Gatty, Fiji Times, harassed, censored
The immigration department ordered Gatty, an expatriate Australian, to cease writing a weekly column for the Fiji Times on the grounds that his work as a journalist breached the terms of his work permit, which allows him only to manage a spice farm. Home Affairs Minister Col. Paul Manueli later reversed the decision, after Gatty supplied a declaration stating that he received no financial remuneration as a journalist, and so was not violating his work permit. Colleagues in the region viewed the actions as an attempt to intimidate Gatty, whose column is often critical of the government.

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