(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 7 September 2003, Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels brutally killed journalist Gyanendra Khadka, aged 35, in Sindhupalchowk district. At about 4:00 p.m. (local time), a group of Maoists entered a school in Jyamire where Khadka was attending a parents’ meeting. The rebels told him to come outside, saying they needed to […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 7 September 2003, Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels brutally killed journalist Gyanendra Khadka, aged 35, in Sindhupalchowk district.
At about 4:00 p.m. (local time), a group of Maoists entered a school in Jyamire where Khadka was attending a parents’ meeting. The rebels told him to come outside, saying they needed to talk with him.
The Maoists reportedly tied both his hands to a volleyball pole in Devisthan Khelmaidan, about seven or eight minutes walk from the school, and brutally slit his throat with a “khukuri” (a Gurkha knife).
Khadka had been working as a reporter for the National News Agency (Rastriya Samachar Samiti, RSS) in Sindhupalchowk district for two years and was also teaching at the Janata Secondary School in Jyamire. Khadka began his career with “Janapratishtha Saptahik” in Kavre and also worked for the daily “Nepal Samacharpatra”.
CEHURDES strongly condemns this rebel action against journalists. CEHURDES further urges rebel leaders to instruct their cadres to stop immediately any forms of atrocities against journalists and free expression activists.
