Nauru expels Australian magistrate Peter Law, bars chief justice Geoffrey Eames from returning to country

Updated

Nauru's justice system has been thrown into chaos after its chief justice and only magistrate - both Australian citizens - were barred from the country.

The country's solicitor-general, Steven Bliim, has now tended his resignation and the ABC believes a Melbourne-based solicitor has this morning arrived in the Pacific nation to preside as magistrate.

On Sunday morning, Nauru's president Baron Waqa fired resident magistrate and supreme court registrar Peter Law.

"I was found by the police... [they] came to my place and arrested me because they demanded I be on the first plane out of Nauru," he told ABC's AM program.

Mr Law says he was forced out of the country.

"I'd get better treatment in the Congo, you know, because I seriously was jostled and pushed by the arresting officer, it was quite unpleasant," he said.

Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames had intervened by issuing an injunction against Mr Waqa's deportation of Mr Law, but that was ignored.

Not only was Mr Law put on a plane back to Australia, the president then cancelled Justice Eames' visa, preventing him from returning to Nauru to deal with the matter.

"The magistrate here was dealt with like a criminal. You'd think he was Tony Mokbel with a wig. It's absolutely ridiculous," Justice Eames said.

Mr Law is now back in Brisbane and says Mr Waqa's actions are clearly in contempt of court.

"To not to follow the chief judge's orders and then to cancel his visa really throws any concept of justice out the window. It's really outrageous," he said.

"It was a very comprehensive injunction and it specified the various authorities, including the airlines and the police and there were copies issued to the minister of justice and I believe the president, so it's hard to imagine why it was ignored."

Law men say deportation is politically motivated

Both judicial figures say the move is a politically motivated attempt to change the outcome of two cases due to come before the court today.

The cases involve two Australian businessmen who had been declared "prohibited immigrants" by the country's justice minister and given a week to leave Nauru.

One of the men is Rod Henshaw, a former ABC broadcaster who also worked as a media adviser to the Nauru government.

It is believed he had been running a bar at a government-owned hotel in Nauru.

The residents appealed to the courts and Mr Law granted an injunction against their deportation.

Justice Eames says he has had no contact with the Nauruan government, but he believes the timing and comments from the government about the cases are revealing.

In a statement he says the actions against Mr Law are "politically motivated, designed to have the decisions overturned by a new magistrate and amounted to an abuse of the rule of law".

It is now understood that a Melbourne-based solicitor has arrived in Nauru to act as magistrate and will later make a ruling on whether the injunctions stopping the deportation of the Australian businessmen will be upheld.

Justice Eames says the actions have implications for the Australian Government.

"A government which has got such close ties with Nauru and has had for many decade - I would have thought they'd have more than a passing interest in such instability in the judicial system in the Pacific region," he said.

Mr Law says he has been given no reason for his deportation, but the president has said it is related to allegations of misbehaviour against Mr Law by a former member of staff.

He says he had a disgruntled staff member who he suspended because he became abusive, but he denies that is the reason for his expulsion from Nauru.

"The timing of this makes it very obvious in my mind what this is all about," he said.

Asylum seeker cases in limbo

Mr Law says dozens of court cases will now be unable to proceed.

"It's extremely serious. Just this week we have 60 or 70 criminal matters listed, including about 30 or 40 of the asylum seeker defendants," he said.

"Where all this is going to go, I don't know.

"I'm in the middle of judgments, sentences, there's civil lists, family court matters listed. So it's just a complete debacle as far as I can see."

Nauruan opposition MP Mathew Batsiua says the move is a great interference in the independence of the country's judiciary.

"It's another example of the lengths this government will go to to get its way," he said.

"The letters that they issued to the resident magistrate didn't spell out any reason, they just basically terminated his contract because they can."

He says there is no plan as yet for a new magistrate or chief justice.

"That's a question for government. How are they going to fill the void?"

"They've lost the plot. They've interfered in the media, now they've interfered in the judiciary.

"By disregarding the independence of the judiciary they are disregarding the constitution."

Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, world-politics, nauru, pacific, brisbane-4000, qld

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