Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the 2016 Amnesty International Report on Fiji is legally biased, factually flawed and lacks intellectual integrity.
Sayed-Khaiyum made this clear in parliament today after Opposition MP, Niko Nawaikula asked Sayed-Khaiyum to advise parliament on what steps had been taken by the government in the implementation of the Amnesty International Report recommendations.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the Prime Minister has already made it clear that there is no state sanctioned policy on torture in Fiji unlike in other countries.
He says even the US has a state sanctioned policy on water boarding.
The Attorney General says Fiji just has groups of people taking the law into their own hands however the Fijian constitution clearly prohibits torture in the Bill of Rights.
He highlighted that there is a recommendation in the Amnesty International Report to “remove legal barriers to the prosecution of torture and other ill-treatment”.
Sayed-Khaiyum questions what sort of barriers as all prosecutions continue without any barriers.
He says the report also recommends that the Prisons Act be amended however the act was repealed 8 years ago.
Nawaikula again asked Sayed-Khaiyum whether the government will implement the recommendations.
Sayed-Khaiyum says how can this be done when the recommendations are wrong.
