Human Rights Group Calls For Human Rights In Fiji

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SUVA (Pacnews): The human rights group, Amnesty International is calling on its friends to issue an urgent appeal for the respect of human rights in Fiji in light of last Thursday's foiled takeover of the military headquarters in the capital Suva by a group of renegade soldiers, Pacnews reports.

The appeals are being addressed to Fiji's interim attorney general Alipate Qeitaki, military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama and Fiji's High Commissioner in Australia Ratu Isoa Gavidi.

Amnesty has expressed grave concern about reports of severe beatings of detained members of the military by other soldiers and welcomed the inquiry by the Fiji Human Rights Commission.

Amnesty International calls on the military authorities to immediately allow relatives, their lawyers, independent medical professionals and human rights monitors access to detainees and to officially confirm the whereabouts of anyone currently in military detention.

The London-based organisation has expressed concern at the serious allegations that five rebel soldiers did not die from gunshot wounds but may have been beaten to death in or around last Thursday.

It is reminding the authorities that the crime of torture is prohibited under international law and of their obligation to cooperate fully with the commission's inquiry into the five deaths of soldiers of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit.

+++niuswire

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