Fiji Times publisher to be deported
Updated
![The managing director of the News Corporation-owned Fiji Times newspaper was taken from his Suva home by men claiming to be immigration officers. [Reuters]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/fiji_newspaper_rtr_300508.jpg "The managing director of the News Corporation-owned Fiji Times newspaper was taken from his Suva home by men claiming to be immigration officers. [Reuters]")
The managing director of the News Corporation-owned Fiji Times newspaper was taken from his Suva home by men claiming to be immigration officers. [Reuters]
Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says he is disturbed by reports that an Australian publisher faces deportation from Fiji.
Mr Smith was speaking on Thursday after Evan Hannah, the publisher of the News Corporation-owned Fiji Times newspaper, was taken into custody from his Suva home by immigration officers.
He was expected to be flown to Australia on Friday morning, after Fiji's Foreign Minister called him a threat to national security.
Our Fiji correspondent, Samisoni Pareti, says employees of the newspaper managed to contact Mr Hannah who confirmed his deportation, and said he wanted his wife informed that he was unharmed.
In a statement, Fiji Times editor in chief Netani Rika said he was deeply disturbed at Mr Hannah's detention, which follows the deportation in February of the Australian publisher of the Fiji Sun, Russell Hunter.
Mr Hunter's deportation drew widespread condemnation from local and international media groups as well as from the governments of Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The head of NewsCorp's Australian arm, John Hartigan, says Mr Hannah's treatment is an attempt to intimidate Fiji's media.
