It’s back to square one for Grace Road president Daniel Kim and six others after the High Court in Lautoka ruled their arrest and detention by Government is lawful.

On October 27, 2023, Justice Lyone Seneviratne struck out the habeas corpus application and upheld the argument that the Minister for Home Affairs’ decision to detain the seven could not be challenged.

On February 29, the Fiji Court of Appeal ruled Justice Seneviratne was wrong and that the detention order by the minister could be challenged, with the case remitted back to him with a re-hearing order of seven days.

In his latest ruling on March 11, Justice Seneviratne stuck to his initial ruling that the Minister for Home Affairs and his permanent secretary had powers to arrest and detain the Grace Road officials.

“Without any grounds adduced by the plaintiff in opposition, it is absolutely clear that the honourable Minister for Immigration and Home Affairs was correct in declaring that the applicants are of prohibited class pursuant to section 13(2)(g) of the Immigration Act 2003,” ruled Justice Seneviratne.

“Provisions section 13(2)(g) of the Immigration Act are unambiguous and it clearly confers power on the Minister for Immigration and Home Affairs to make declaration whether a particular non-citizen is of prohibited class.”

Grace Roads lawyer, Ronald Gordon, said they have filed an appeal against this latest judgment and also applied for orders seeking Daniel Kim be bailed or be allowed to travel to Vanuatu.