(RSF/IFEX) – In a 19 April 2000 letter to the chief minister of India’s Manipur state, W. Nipamacha Singh, RSF protested the arrest of N. Biren Singh, editor of the daily “Naharlogi Thoudang”. The organisation called on the minister to “ensure the immediate release of the journalist”. RSF believes that a jail sentence would constitute […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 19 April 2000 letter to the chief minister of India’s Manipur state, W. Nipamacha Singh, RSF protested the arrest of N. Biren Singh, editor of the daily “Naharlogi Thoudang”. The organisation called on the minister to “ensure the immediate release of the journalist”. RSF believes that a jail sentence would constitute a serious violation of press freedom. In a document dated 18 January 2000, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights underlined that imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious violation of human rights.
According to the information collected by RSF, N. Biren Singh, editor of the vernacular-language daily “Naharlogi Thoudang”, was arrested on 14 April by police in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, north-eastern India. The police accused him of publishing a speech by an activist, Th Iboyaima, who has allegedly “encouraged extremist armed groups”. The statements published in the newspaper were considered “seditious and anti-nationalist”. Th Iboyaima, who is 84, was also arrested. In the past three years, fifteen journalists have been detained in Manipur state, accused by the authorities of “supporting armed movements”.
