Fiji moves to deport News Corp newspaper publisher

By Malakai Veisamasama

SUVA, May 1 (Reuters) - Fiji's military government ordered the Australian publisher of Rupert Murdoch's Fiji Times newspaper, Evan Hannah, to be deported on Thursday, saying he was a threat to national security.

The move is the latest crackdown on the media in Fiji since military commander Frank Bainimarama seized power in a bloodless coup in late 2006, and comes amid growing international criticism of the slow progress in returning the island chain to democracy.

Fiji television said Hannah was detained late on Thursday, taken towards the country's main airport and then returned to the capital, Suva, where his deportation was due to be challenged in the country's High Court. He was expected to fly out of Fiji for Australia early on Friday.

"I can confirm I signed the deportation order," Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau told Fiji television. "He was a threat to national security."

The move comes after another Australian, Russell Hunter, publisher of the rival Fiji Sun newspaper, was deported in February for criticising Bainimarama's government.

Fiji Times Editor-in-Chief Netani Rika said in a statement on the Fiji Times website, www.fijitimes.com, that Hannah's detention was disturbing.

"We are deeply disturbed that an incident such as this would take place two days before Media Freedom day and less than 12 hours after the interim prime minister made a public statement calling for better relations with the media industry and promising to uphold media freedom," he said.

"WEAK EXCUSE"