The Journalist Association of Samoa (JAWS) has condemned the actions of the Minister for Communication and Information Technology over his treatment of a local journalist.

The country's peak media body released a statement on Tuesday after Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesemoa asked the Samoa Observer reporter, Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi to visit his office last Friday so he could comment on allegations that documentation for a seized American Samoa-registered vessel was initially sent to his office.

Ms. Sanerivi ended up spending two hours in the Minister's office and was subject to a barrage of questions targeting her job as well as her employer, the Samoa Observer. He also asked his staff as well as his wife to respond to questions that the reporter asked him, in relation to the American Samoa vessel.

JAWS said the actions of Minister Toelupe were unprofessional and did not augur well for the country's media industry.

"The Minister's action which comes down to nothing more but unprofessional has shown his true opinion of the Fourth of Estate role in a democratic country by belittling the profession," reads the JAWS statement. 

"The extreme action he took in threatening the journalist, belittling the newspaper she represents and pressured her to name her source of information is beyond belief. What is even more shocking is the fact that he is the Minister responsible for the media."

Emphasising that there is a proper channel for the public, including the Minister to follow, if they had issues with a story, JAWS said for the Minister to call his wife to join him and threaten legal action points to "abuse of power of a public officer".

"Did he think being the Minister for Communication would spare him from the might of the pen? Did he think being a Minister gives him authority to detain the journalist for 2 hours? He needs to apologise for his actions."

JAWS also commended Ms. Sanerivi for her courage and for standing by her ethics during the exchange with the Cabinet Minister.