The court said Batra “invoked a doctrine, apparently of American origin but unknown in jurisdictions of which we are familiar, under which a Court must give ‘maximum deference’ to the executive’s decision” but said “we do not accept any such doctrine forms part of the law of Kiribati”.

Lambourne is a long-time resident of Kiribati and lives with his wife, Tessie Lambourne, in the nation’s capital, South Tarawa.

Tessie Lambourne, a former ambassador to Taiwan, recently accused the government of “bending over backwards to accommodate the interests of China” after it withdrew Kiribati from the Pacific Islands Forum, the key diplomatic body in the Pacific.

“My assessment is that maybe China wants to isolate us from the rest of the forum,” she told SBS in July.

The government had sought to stop Lambourne from re-entering the country after a trip to Australia but he returned this month on a visitor visa that did not allow him to work as a judge.

Batra alleged Lambourne had always been appointed to the High Court for a fixed three-year term that expired last year, rather than for life. But in a decision in November last year, the country’s Chief Justice, William Hastings, confirmed in the High Court that Lambourne had been appointed for life. The Court of Appeal confirmed Chief Justice Hastings’ judgment.

Hastings, also a New Zealand judge, has since been suspended and there is no functioning High Court in Kiribati at present. The attorney-general also suspended Lambourne as a judge in May, citing unspecified misconduct grounds.

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