A former president of Nauru, who is one of five MPs suspended from parliament, says he believes new visa restrictions are partly aimed at them.
Sprent Dabwido is one of three of MPs facing charges over a protest last June while another two had their passports seized.
All the MPs struggled to bring in lawyers from overseas because of obstructions placed in their way by the judicial system and the justice minister.
Former Nauru president Sprent Dabwido Photo: supplied
In the latest development the government deemed all visitors from Australia and New Zealand wouldn't get on the island without local guarantors.
But Mr Dabwido says this could cause problems if they found some fault with the visitor and the guarantor could be jailed for a year.
"Let's say he hands over his passport and they just make up an excuse there that his passport is, instead of six months from the expiry date it is ten or 12 months, and he has violated the conditions of his passport and then I do get put in there [jail] for one year, which means in our constitution I cannot stand for elections."
