An Australian publisher who arrived in Sydney after being deported from Fiji says his expulsion will strengthen the resolve of journalists at his paper.

Evan Hannah, publisher of the News Limited-owned Fiji Times, was forced onto a plane to South Korea, after military leader Frank Bainimarama ordered his deportation on the grounds that he was a threat to national security.

Hannah was taken from his Suva home in front of his wife and one year-old son despite a Fiji High Court order ruling against his deportation, local media reported.

He arrived at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday on a flight from South Korea at Sydney airport where he told reporters his deportation was "annoying and deeply frustrating."

"It’s a deeply sad day for Fiji’s media . . . It’s pretty annoying and from a family perspective it is distressing," said Hannah, whose family is still in Fiji.

"This is another demonstration that the interim government doesn’t understand media freedom.

"Since overthrowing the elected government in December 2006, Bainimarama has been accused of waging a campaign of intimidation against media outlets critical of his rule," he said according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Hannah is the second Australian publisher expelled from Fiji in three months.

In February Russell Hunter, publisher of the Fiji Sun newspaper, was also thrown out of the South Pacific country after the paper carried articles critical of the regime.

Now back in Australia, Hannah says the media environment in Fiji is tainted by the military government’s use of intimidation tactics against reporters.

"The biggest point here is the intimidation that goes on," Hannah told Sky News.

"Reporters will get phone calls suggesting they shouldn’t have taken a certain tone with a story.

"Now, there’s no action taken against that reporter, but the reporter remembers that action and there’s a possibility of self-censorship."

Hannah said the Fijian government routinely became dissatisfied when it received negative coverage in the press.

"The government doesn’t recognize that all governments dislike media at times, it’s not always a friendly relationship.

"We are not out to bring down governments . . . publicity is always 50/50."

The Australian government has described the incident as "a reprehensible attack by the illegal Fiji interim government on human rights and freedom of speech."

Hannah said Fijian-Australian relations were now approaching another low.

The deportation continues a pattern of intimidation since Bainimarama’s takeover — Fiji’s fourth coup in 20 years

Shortly after Bainimarama’s coup, troops occupied the offices of some newspapers and radio and television broadcasters, demanding the right to scrutinize reports before they were aired or published.

Bainimarama, who installed himself as prime minister, claimed racist policies and corruption by the former government sparked his coup, and insists the racially based communal voting system must be changed before democracy can be restored — something he has pledged to do by April 2009.

—IANS