A political activist who threw a pig's head in a Queensland church to insult Samoa's prime minister before allegedly plotting to assassinate him will remain behind bars while the Pacific nation attempts to extradite him.
Talalelei Pauga, 43, was charged with committing public nuisance after he allegedly hurled the head and yelled abuse at Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi in November 2018.
He also dumped dog food and chicken manure on the floor at a Catholic Parish near Brisbane during the protest over alleged Samoan cultural land rights abuses.
Queensland prosecutors later dropped the public nuisance charge but Mr Pauga was rearrested and detained on August 20 after Samoa made an extradition request to the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department.
Samoa's lawyer Marc McKechnie says Mr Pauga has been charged with conspiracy to murder the Samoan prime minister and Australia has an obligation under international law to comply with its extradition request.
Mr Pauga is accused of hiring a hitman, electronically transferring money to pay him and helping to source a gun, Samoa Global News says.
He and another man also charged over the alleged assassination plot are reportedly members of Samoa Solidarity International Group, an activist group that says Samoa's prime minister is running the country as a dictatorship.
SSIG president Malo Vaimoso says the allegations were made against Mr Pauga because the group raised human rights issues and started legal action against the Samoan government for breaching the nation's constitution.
Mr Pauga's Australian legal team plans to fight the extradition application.
They also applied for him to be released from custody saying Australian Federal Police had not lawfully processed him after his arrest.
Lawyer George Mancini told Brisbane Magistrates Court during a two-day hearing earlier in the week his client had been in custody for more than a month without charge.
But magistrate Belinda Merrin on Friday rejected the application saying Mr Pauga had been justly dealt with in accordance with the legislation.
"In extradition cases, the general rule is that the defendant is to be held in custody," she said quoting case law.
The extradition application will return to the same court on October 30 for mention.
Mr Pauga's lawyers will now apply for his release under Queensland's Human Rights Act.
That application will be heard on October 8.
Earlier, a business associate of Mr Pauga, who preferred not to be named, said the father of four was an Australian citizen who had lived in Brisbane for most of his life.
"Throwing a pig's head in Samoa is a cultural insult to show disgust," he said.
Australian Associated Press
