The University of Fiji has lodged a complaint against individuals from an educational institution disseminating false information designed to discredit the University of Fiji, including via a personal and racist attack against Vice Chancellor, Professor Shaista Shameem.
Professor Shameem says the complaint will be lodged formally this hour with the Online Safety Commission with evidence provided of the online trolling by these individuals and the institution where one of them is a senior employee.
She says she was grateful for the guidelines provided by the Commission.
The Vice Chancellor says, as a lawyer herself, she has also carefully examined the provisions of the Online Safety Act, the False Information Act and the absolute liability provisions of the Crimes Act as all are related in the offence of trolling.
She says the information trolled in the emails sent out to 184 named people including those in high office, was false.
Prof. Shameem says it was disseminated hundreds of times over with the malicious intention of causing harm to the University and its Vice Chancellor.
She says most of those to whom the false information and racist remarks were disseminated did not dissociate themselves from the communication, hence they are regarded by the University as colluding in the offences.
The Vice Chancellor says she has provided the list of names and contact email addresses of those colluding to the Commission's investigators.
She says many are well-known public figures, "at the top" but she is confident that the Commission will investigate all of them without fear or favour.
Prof. Shameem adds the University will vigorously pursue its complaint as trolling is a criminal offence and no one, high or low, who targets the University or any of its officers, is exempt from the long arm of the law.
