Australian David Lambourne, who serves on the High Court of Kiribati, remains in immigration detention after authorities failed to deport him from the small Pacific country.
Lambourne’s ordeal comes during a tumultuous week for democratic institutions across the South Pacific with the Tongan Parliament ousting three MPs for bribing voters just a day earlier.
High Court Justice Lambourne was served a deportation notice on Aug. 11 and taken to the airport in Kiribati’s capital Tarawa.
The Kiribati government accused him of breaching his visa conditions and of posing a national security risk, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
While his lawyers managed to secure an injunction against his deportation, authorities still tried to force him onto a Fiji Airlines plane destined for Fiji….