Pacific Islands

Media advised to leave courthouse precinct in Samoa

May 23, 2021 10:36 am

[Source: Samoa Observer]

Media personnel that gathered at the Samoa’s Supreme Court vicinity this morning to cover an urgent ‘meeting in chambers’ were asked to leave the court premises.

The ‘meeting in chambers’  were between the Chief Justice and Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST).

Samoa Observer report that police officers at the court precinct advised journalists that the area is in “lockdown” as advised by their superiors.

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Some media personnel who were asked by police to leave the parking area as per the lockdown advisory.

The meeting in Chambers called by the Chief Justice is to consider a motion filed by Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party to overturn an order from the Head of State to suspend Parliament’s scheduled swearing-in on Monday, made via a late-night order issued on Saturday.

The Samoa Observer reports that a statement issued Saturday night, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, announced that he was suspending Parliament “pursuant to his constitutional authority”.