(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the presence of large numbers of security personnel inside the offices of newspapers in Kathmandu and the control they are exercising over news reports. The organisation has called for the release of detained journalists and an end to the harassment of the families of those journalists who have gone into […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the presence of large numbers of security personnel inside the offices of newspapers in Kathmandu and the control they are exercising over news reports. The organisation has called for the release of detained journalists and an end to the harassment of the families of those journalists who have gone into hiding to avoid arrest.
After banning the publication of criticism for six months, the royal palace issued a new series of directives on 7 February 2005, banning negative reports about the security forces, under risk of imprisonment or house arrest. The military have also been granted the authority to monitor and ban all communications as part of the state of emergency.
Despite certain concessions that may allow provincial newspapers to resume publication, the army continues to impose drastic measures on the press.
Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Secretary-General Bishnu Nisthuri was arrested at his home in Kathmandu on 4 February, while police have taken up positions around the FNJ’s offices in the capital.
Contrary to earlier reports, neither FNJ President Tara Nath Dahal nor K. C. Netra, the BBC World Service’s correspondent in the southwestern town of Nepalgunj, have been arrested. Dahal’s family has reportedly been harassed by the army, however.
Local FM retransmissions of the BBC World Service’s Nepalese-language programmes have been banned, but the BBC’s English-language broadcasts are still permitted. The privately-owned television station Nepal One remains banned from broadcasting, and its studios are being watched by the military. Indian cable and satellite television stations are still unavailable.
BBC World and CNN television programmes are permitted, but they are censored whenever they refer to the situation in Nepal. Most of the independent weeklies in Kathmandu, including “Budhabar”, are closed.
Five dailies and a dozen weeklies have been closed in Nepalgunj, but an army officer told editors they would be able to resume publishing soon. Newspapers in the western town of Butwal prepared an 8 February issue after being closed for a week. Army officers asked journalists to publish news “honouring the spirit of the royal proclamation.” In Chitawan (southwest of Kathmandu), newspapers were also due to reappear on 8 February following negotiations with the military authorities.
Censorship has eliminated all independent reporting. A Nepalese newspaper editor quoted by “The Times of India” said he had never seen such censorship. “One could test the limits in the past by writing something provocative, but now we have received clear warnings to do nothing against the interests of the current regime,” he said. Nonetheless, “Kantipur” and “Kathmandu Post” dailies ran editorials on 7 February calling on the king to restore press freedom.
To offset the lack of news, an underground bulletin called “Jana Awaj”, reproducing reports from the BBC and the Indian press, was being circulated in Butwal.
As a result of the enforced blackout, 28 journalists have reportedly been dismissed by Radio Kantipur FM. Staff with the Kantipur Group’s print media could also be affected.
