Nauruan opposition MP taken off flight and prevented from leaving country
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Version 0 of 1. A member of the opposition in the Nauruan parliament has been removed from a flight to Australia and prevented from leaving by Nauruan authorities. In an extraordinary intervention likely to further exacerbate tensions on the island, Roland Kun was removed from a flight on Wednesday that was bound for Australia. The move comes a day after protests occurred outside the Nauruan parliament and the arrest of another opposition MP, Mathew Batsiua. Related: Nauru opposition MP arrested after anti-government protest outside parliament Kun told Guardian Australia Nauruan authorities had removed him from the plane after raising concerns about his passport. Kun arrived on the island last Sunday with a Nauruan passport that was valid until October 2016. But Nauruan authorities told him he needed to apply for a new one and confiscated his passport. His application for a new passport was then refused. Kun was then given back his old passport but with a reduced expiry date to October 2015. Kun said he successfully sought approval from the Australian high commissioner for entry into Australia. But he was then pulled off the flight that was scheduled to leave Nauru on Wednesday. “I was on the aircraft when an official came up. They went to check my passport and said it had now been cancelled,” he said. “I asked how. They said by directive from upstairs. Meaning either the minister directly or the secretary for justice. “The aircraft was then offloaded. I had to disembark with the rest of the passengers. While I was speaking with border control officials the aircraft took off.” It is not clear when Kun will be able to leave the island. He has a wife and three young children in New Zealand, who he is now separated from. There are also concerns he may be arrested by the Nauruan government. “I’m concerned they don’t have any legal basis right now to do what they are doing,” he said. “In the mean time I’m living away from my family. There is always be the possibility that I will be locked up for speaking to foreign media.” Nauruan’s have become increasingly disenchanted with the government in the past two years, with former magistrate Peter Law saying it had led to a serious breakdown in the rule of law. In 2014 all opposition MPs were suspended from the Nauruan parliament. |