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Fiji's military, already facing criticism over its human rights record, has been accused of beating a 19-year-old man so badly he died.
It has been widely reported that Sakiusa Rabaka Ligaiviu died on Saturday after being bashed by Fiji's military last month.
According to the Intelligentsiya weblog Mr Rabaka was arrested by six soldiers and a policeman on January 28 for possession of marijuana and taken to an army barracks.
He was said to have been stripped naked, made to carry heavy sacks and beaten while running up a hill.
"He returned to Nadi last week after he was discharged," the weblog said. "But on Saturday he collapsed while with friends and was taken to Nadi Hospital, where he died."
The executive director of Fiji's Citizens Constitutional Reform (CCF), the Rev Akuila Yabaki, blamed the soldiers for Mr Rabaka's death.
"We have strongly condemned the assault by soldiers on Sakiusa Rabaka which in our view led to his death," Mr Yabaki said.
He said emergency powers given to the military following the December 5 coup in the country went too far and his group had written to coup leader Frank Bainimarama in protest.
"It [the emergency decree] gives more room to the military to be in control. It is almost an immunity that is in place as well," Mr Yabaki said.
The new allegations come amid claims the military have taken dozens of people to barracks in Suva and Nadi and beaten them in a bid to silence critics of the coup.
Amnesty International in a statement this month expressed "particular concern at continuing reports of threats made against critics of the coup, arbitrary detention and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of civil society activists and media professionals as well as other men and women."
- AAP
