Activist still waiting for court appearance in Tonga

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland-based Tongan democracy activist Alan Taione remains detained in Tonga on charges of distributing an unlicensed newspaper after a court fixture clashed with a royal funeral.

Taione planned to be back at his job in Auckland by now as a warrant of fitness workshop manager, but has to wait until Wednesday to reappear in Tonga's preliminary court on two charges of illegally distributing the Taimi 'o Tonga (Times of Tonga).

He was to have been dealt with last Wednesday after being arrested the previous week, a day after his own father's funeral in Tonga.

But the court date clashed with that of another funeral, of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's controversial second son, Maatu Fatafehi Alaivahamama'o Tuku'aho.

Although the funeral brought thousands of mourners on to the streets of the capital, Nuku'alofa, Taione told the Herald from Tonga yesterday there was no statutory reason for delaying his case as the day was not a public holiday.

But he suspected that the authorities used the funeral as a pretext to gain more time to prepare for their first prosecution under legislation requiring publications to be licensed.

Although Noble Maatu was stripped of his princely title by his father after leaving the kingdom to marry a commoner in Hawaii, Taione said he was known as "the People's Prince" for supporting the pro-democracy movement after returning to Tonga.

He said the King's son was one of four nobles who voted against the royal family in an unsuccessful bid last year to stop the constitution being changed to ban the distribution of non-licensed publications.

Taione will apply for his case to be heard by the Tongan High Court.

He questioned the authorities' consistency in arresting him while allowing what he said was the sale of other unlicensed publications such as the New Zealand Woman's Weekly in a Government bookshop.