Rayawa Questions Comments Against Muslim Community
Former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Aca Rayawa has questioned what was being done about people who were inciting communal antagonism on social media against the small Muslim community in Fiji.
Mr Rawaya’s question arose from recent comments on Facebook after a cleric from India spoke about celebrating Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday in Fiji. Mr Rayawa said people on social media were talking about the possible Islamisation of Fiji. He questioned how this was possible, when the Muslim community was a minority in Fiji. Muslims make up 4.2 per cent of the country’s population. He spoke passionately about the manner in which inciteful comments were being made on social media and no one was being taken to task.
He defended the Muslim community and questioned the validity of some comments, adding that his Muslim driver was unfamiliar with some of the words the Indian cleric used in his speech.
He urged that charges be brought against those who were inciting hatred and instilling fear in Fiji regarding the Muslim community. Mr Rayawa said he was yet to see charges before the Courts or any extradition order for individuals sitting overseas and spreading hate in Fiji.
Mr Rayawa posed this question to the panel on Regulate Cyber Space? Civil and Criminal Culpability in Cyber Space and to the Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde on day two of the 19th Attorney-General’s Conference which concluded yesterday.
On the panel were Andrew Stewart, a partner in Baker McKenzie, an international law firm, Commissioner of Police Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho, director of Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Ashwin Raj and Ivan Fong who is the chief executive officer of Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited.
Mr Pryde responded that there were some cases which they were currently working on where charges may be laid for vilification on social media.
Mr Qiliho while delivering his speech highlighted that 156 cases were investigated or were under investigation by the CyberCrime Investigations Unit since 2008. Also:
20 are pending in court
12 cases have been dealt with successfully in court resulting in imprisonment or fine of the accused persons. They included cases of trafficking in Obscene Publications; Obtaining property by deception; obtaining financial advantage by deception; abusive text messages, money laundering; possession of property which was suspected to have been proceeds of crime.