(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 March 2001 RSF press release: NEPAL Journalist Krishna Sen released after two years in custody Two pro-Maoist journalists still missing after being arrested by police After two years in custody in accordance with the Public Security Act, journalist Krishna Sen was released on 15 March 2001 from Jaleshwor […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 March 2001 RSF press release:
NEPAL
Journalist Krishna Sen released after two years in custody
Two pro-Maoist journalists still missing after being arrested by police
After two years in custody in accordance with the Public Security Act, journalist Krishna Sen was released on 15 March 2001 from Jaleshwor jail in Mahottari district. Security forces tried to prevent his release. Krishna Sen was “kidnapped” by the police on 10 March just a few hours after his first release ordered by the Supreme Court.
Obviously Reporters Sans Frontières welcomes this release, but regrets that it has happened so late. The editor of the Nepali weekly Janadesh was arrested on 19 April 1999 and detained in accordance with the Public Security Act. The Nepalese authorities accused him of publishing in his pro-Maoist newspaper an interview with one of the leaders of this movement, Baburam Bhattarai. The police seized the 20,000 copies of the weekly.
Reporters Sans Frontières is still worried about threats to the safety and the freedom of Krishna Sen. Police did not hesitate to arrest him for “illegal possession of weapons” a few days after he was released under pressure from a first judgement by the Supreme Court in August 1999. According to reports from human rights organisations, Krishna Sen was beaten during his detention.
Another pro-Maoist journalist is still detained in Nepal. Amar Budha from the weekly Yojana, was arrested in April 1999. He is reportedly detained at the Gaighat jail. Reporters Sans Frontières asks the Nepalese authorities to release him if his detention is due to his journalistic activities.
Despite Reporters Sans Frontières’ repeated appeals, the authorities have supplied no information regarding the pro-Maoist journalist Milan Nepali, missing since May 1999. The police arrested him in Kathmandu, but denied detaining him. At the end of 1999, a Nepalese official told human rights organisations that Milan Nepali is on a list of persons “who are no longer alive”. The journalist’s family has never been informed of his whereabouts.
