Pointing out court verdict spello: Fiji convicts Indian-origin lawyer

Suva/Fiji: The High Court of Suva, the capital of Fiji, found leading Indian-origin lawyer Richard Naidu guilty of contempt and scandalising the court. Naidu had pointed out a spelling error in a judgment by the court.

Naidu, a long-time critic of the incumbent Fiji government, is likely to face imprisonment for his Facebook post from February 2022, sharing a picture of a judgment where the word 'injunction' was spelt wrongly as 'injection'.

"Maybe our judges need to be shielded from all this vaccination campaigning. I'm pretty sure all the Applicant wanted was an injunction," he wrote on FB, adding a "thinking face" emoji.

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, filed a complaint against Naidu over his post, stating that it was malicious and mocking the judiciary.

The case will be listed on January 5, 2023, for sentencing and mitigation submissions. Contempt of court cases in Fiji will have a sentencing range of three to six months.

Law associations and human rights organisations called sentencing Naidu a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

Amnesty International said in a statement, "the charges are an excessive and politically motivated response to pointing out a spelling error in a court judgment and violate the right to freedom of expression."

"Pursuing a lawyer with criminal or administrative punishment for pointing out accurately on social media a spelling mistake in a public court judgment is manifestly disproportionate and a violation of his right to exercise his freedom of expression," it added.

Amnesty International Pacific Researcher, Kate Schuetze, said, "the charges are ridiculous and should be thrown out!" on Twitter.

The Bar Association of India urged the Attorney-General of Fiji to forthwith bring the proceedings to a satisfactory closure by causing the conviction to be annulled".

"The Bar Association of India calls on the Fijian judiciary to respect the right to freedom of expression. The Fijian judiciary's reputational excellence is not lowered in any way by mere statements or humorous remarks," Bar Association President, Prashant Kumar, said.

The Law Council of Australia noted in a statement that "Naidu was denied procedural fairness and was not afforded a fair trial".

Fiji is heading to polls on December 14.