Press watchdogs condemn ban on Tongan newspaper

New Zealand, Australian and Fijian press watchdogs have condemned the ban on a Tongan newspaper as "severe censorship".

Tonga's Privy Council, the cabinet appointed by King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, recently reimposed its ban on the Auckland-published biweekly Taimi'o Tonga (Times of Tonga). The kingdom's Supreme Court ruled an earlier ban was illegal.

Yesterday the New Zealand Press Council, Australian Press Council, Fiji Media Council and the Australian and New Zealand branches of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) voiced their growing apprehension over the Government's reaction to "issues of free speech and the rights of a free press". Publisher Kalafi Moala had faced constant legal threats, harassment and even undergone a short jail term for his views and publications, the councils and CPU said.

Particular exception had been taken to Taimi'o Tonga's comments on the actions of members of the Tongan royal family.

"To place a ban on the presence of a newspaper such as Taimi'o Tonga within the borders of the kingdom and providing a penalty for its breach, solely on political grounds, is a severe incursion into free speech and the rights of a free press that are at the heart of a democratically governed country."

- NZPA