Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a 22 November 2005 CEHURDES press release: CEHURDES welcomes CPN (Maoist)’s commitment to respect press freedom Kathmandu, Nov. 22 – The Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom group, welcomes the commitment expressed by the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN, Maoist) rebels to respect freedom […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES press release: CEHURDES condemns manhandling of photojournalists, government’s letter to a radio station Kathmandu, Nov. 16 – The Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom monitoring group, condemns the manhandling of photojournalists who were covering the trial of a former government official on […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES press release: CEHURDES condemns government’s action leading to the closure of a radio programme Kathmandu, Nov. 16 – The Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom monitoring group, condemns the government’s attempt to censor a radio programme on human rights, which has resulted […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES press release: Kathmandu, Nov. 11–The Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom monitoring group, fears a fresh crackdown on Nepalese media by the government in the aftermath of the latest court verdict that refused to block the controversial media law, which aims to […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES statement: CEHURDES condemns government’s act of harassing F.M. radio stations Kathmandu, Nov. 7 – The Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom monitoring group, condemns the government’s latest act of harassing impendent F.M. radio stations in the country. On Sunday (Nov. 6), officials […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES statement: CEHURDES welcomes court’s stay order Kathmandu, Oct. 27 – The Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based press freedom watchdog, welcomes the stay order issued by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Thursday asking the government not to initiate any action against Kantipur F.M., […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES statement: CEHURDES condemns looting of equipment from leading FM radio station Kathmandu, Oct. 21 – Nepalese police forcibly took away equipment used for uplinking after entering the office premises of Kantipur F.M., a leading private sector FM radio station, in Lalitpur late Friday. According to the information provided […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a 30 August 2005 CEHURDES press release: CEHURDES urges Maoists not to harass journalists, demands probe into another incident Kathmandu, August 30–Maoist rebels have freed three journalists in eastern Nepal after taking them into custody for three days. The rebels had taken Tikaram Neti, a reporter with the “Nepal Samacharpatra” […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – A top government official has threatened action against two leading Kathmandu-based, privately-owned newspapers. Addressing a press conference in the capital, Kathmandu, on 25 August 2005, Information and Communications Minister Tanka Dhakal – who is also the government’s spokesman – said the government was engaged in “serious homework” to take legal action against the […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – “Kantipur” columnist Krishna Jwala Devkota has been receiving threatening phone calls and e-mails from persons claiming to be “government security forces” since 7 August 2005. In that day’s edition, “Kantipur” published an opinion piece by Devkota entitled, “Why Doesn’t the Army Speak?” The journalist’s opinion piece described the alleged rape of Maoist women […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), a Maoist student organisation, has threatened to physically harm Tekendra Dhakal, editor of the Jhapa-based “Jhulkegham Weekly”. Reports claim the group has posted public notices in various places around the eastern city of Jhapa, announcing their intention to harm the journalist. According to Dhakal, the […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a 4 August 2005 CEHURDES press release: Nepal government threatens to revoke licence of a private FM station Kathmandu, Aug. 4, 05 – One day prior to the expiry of six-month old restrictions on newspapers and independent FM radio stations, the Ministry of Information and Communications in Nepal has initiated […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 31 July 2005, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) summoned three journalists in the mid-western district of Dailekh in connection with a news item published in “The Kathmandu Post” on 20 July accusing the RNA of using minors as spies. RNA personnel summoned Kamal Neupane, a reporter for the “Nepal Samacharpatra” daily, and […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 8 July 2005, the regional administrator for Nepal’s central region, Rabindra Chakrabarty, summoned Bhadranath Adhikary, editor and publisher of the twice monthly newspaper “Grameen Samachar” (“Rural News”), published in the southern city of Birgunj, and detained him for over 24 hours. According to “Kantipur”, “Grameen Samachar” reported in its 29 June issue […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – The following is a CEHURDES statement: Five journalists arrested in Kathmandu, Maoists threaten a reporter in eastern Nepal Kathmandu, June 29 – Nepal Police have arrested five journalists while they were trying to enter Singha Durbar, the main government secretariat, to stage a sit-in protest in front of the Ministry of Information and […]

(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 13 June 2005, police intervened in a peaceful demonstration organised by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) at Ratna Park in the capital, Kathmandu, and arrested at least four dozen journalists. Police officers, some of them in plain clothes, manhandled a number of journalists before arresting them. Those detained include FNJ President […]