(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 29 August 2004, a group of four persons assaulted camera operator Raju Timilsina of the private television station Kantipur in Nayabaneswor, Kathmandu. The assailants also reportedly damaged Timilsina’s camera in the incident. The motive for the attack remains unknown. On 22 August, Mahendra Bahadur Karki, outgoing vice president of the district development […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 29 August 2004, a group of four persons assaulted camera operator Raju Timilsina of the private television station Kantipur in Nayabaneswor, Kathmandu. The assailants also reportedly damaged Timilsina’s camera in the incident. The motive for the attack remains unknown.
On 22 August, Mahendra Bahadur Karki, outgoing vice president of the district development committee, threatened journalist Punya Prasad Poudel in Pokhara, Kaski district, western Nepal. Poudel, editor of the daily “Pokaharpatra”, was threatened for reporting on the vice-president’s alleged involvement in misusing Pokhara stadium land for personal business.
In another incident on 15 August, a person named Lalan Chaudhary threatened to kill Arun Shingania, publisher of “Janakpur Today” newspaper in Janakpur, Dhanusha district, south-central Nepal. The same morning, Shingania also received an anonymous telephone call in which he was threatened with death. Previously, an individual named Chandra Mohan assaulted “Janakpur Today” editor Brij Kuman Yadav at the newspaper’s office. The motive for the attack remains unknown. According to CEHURDES sources, two separate criminal offence cases were filed at the district administration office.
CEHURDES condemns the threats against the journalists. The organisation urges all concerned parties to respect press freedom and freedom of expression.
