'Tongan three' awarded US$26,000 for wrongful jailing
Title -- 3874 TONGA: 'Tongan three' awarded US$26,000 for wrongful jailing
Date -- 9 December 2002
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Taimi 'o Tonga, 6/12/2
Copyright -- Taimi 'o Tonga
Status -- Unabridged
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'TONGAN THREE' AWARDED US$26,000 FOR WRONGFUL JAILING
AUCKLAND (Taimi 'o Tonga/Pacific Media Watch): Two Tongan journalists and a leading pro-democracy MP have been awarded US$26,000 in damages by Tonga's Supreme Court against the Government of Tonga and Police Minister Clive Edwards for a "grave injustice" in 1996.
Kalafi Moala, now an Auckland-based newspaper publisher, Filo 'Akau'ola of the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper, and pro-democracy MP and publisher 'Akilisi Pohiva were awarded the damages by Supreme Court Justice Ford for general and aggravated damages for their wrongful imprisonment.
In his 30-page judgment, Justice Ford recounted the events in September 1996 when the three men were charged by Tonga's Legislative Assembly for contempt of Parliament, tried and jailed for 30 days.
Their imprisonment became a cause célèbre among journalists and civil rights advocates in the Pacific and some media freedom groups described them as the "Tongan three". The Commonwealth Press Union funded New Zealand civil liberties lawyer Barry Wilson to take up their case and seek their freedom.
The saga was described by Moala in his book published in 2002, Island Kingdom Strikes Back.
The men, on their third attempt at filing for habeas corpus in 1996, were released by then Chief Justice Nigel Hampton, who said their imprisonmentment was unconstitutional. They had been imprisoned for 25 days.
Parliament appealed the decision and in 1997 the Appeals Court ruled against the appeal, stating that the men's jailing was not only unconstitutional but that they had been convicted of a crime "they did not commit".
The contempt charges were over an article in the weekly newspaper Taimi 'o Tonga, which covered a motion for impeachment of the then Justice Minister Tevita Tupou before it was tabled in Parliament.
Justice Ford wrote: "I have no doubt that the experience endured by the plaintiffs in the present case was traumatic in every sense of the word. They were professional people carrying on their respective occupations and public duties then suddenly, literally overnight, for no lawful reason, they were earmarked as common criminals and incarcerated in the maximum security
wing at Hu'atolitoli Prison".
He also added: "I do not consider that the plaintiffs overstated their case. They
were subjected to a grave injustice."
From his Auckland office, Kalafi Moala said he was glad the ordeal was over.
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
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