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Australia's ambassador to Fiji receives death threat: officials

AFP - Thursday, May 8

SUVA (AFP) - - Australia's ambassador to Fiji has received death threats related to Australia's opposition to the South Pacific country's military regime, officials said Thursday.

Police and officials at the Australian high commission (embassy) in the capital Suva said a letter containing threats aimed at high commissioner James Batley were delivered by a taxi driver on Wednesday night.

Police said they were taking the threat seriously and had stepped up security around the high commission.

The high commission said in a statement it had made "appropriate security arrangements" in response to the threat, but it remained open for business.

"The threat appears to be politically motivated, by a person or persons who object to the Australian government's current policy on Fiji," the high commission said.

"Needless to say, neither the high commission nor the Australian government will be intimidated by threats."

Australia has been one of the most outspoken international critics of Voreqe Bainimarama's military regime since the elected government was toppled in a bloodless coup in December 2006.

Most recently the Australian government attacked Bainimarama's decision to deport two Australians who were publishers of two of Fiji's largest newspapers.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith last week referred to the latest expulsion as a "reprehensible act," saying there had been a severe erosion of fundamental human rights and the rule of law in Fiji.

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