Posted at 11:37 a.m., Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Hui Malama executive director ordered into custody
Advertiser Staff
Edward Halealoha Ayau, executive director of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, was ordered into federal custody this morning until the exact whereabouts of 83 Hawaiian cultural artifacts are revealed.U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra today ruled that Ayau would remain in custody until he or others provide the court with the exact location of all the objects, which have been placed in two Big Island caves at or near where they were taken by Westerners in 1905.
Ezra said Ayau would also be released if the artifacts are somehow retrieved.
In a separate action, an unidentified man was ordered into custody for five days for disrupting the court during a hearing before Ezra. It was not known if the man is a member of Hui Malama.
The hearing was ordered last week to give members of Hui Malama a chance to explain why they are refusing to follow his order to disclose the locations of the objects.
Hui Malama borrowed the objects from Bishop Museum in 2000 and never returned them.
