(RSF/IFEX) – Because the Nepalese government has refused to acknowledge its appeals, and the protests made by various human rights organisations, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has announced the launch of a two-week long protest campaign, which was to begin on 4 July 2002. The FNJ has sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Sher […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Because the Nepalese government has refused to acknowledge its appeals, and the protests made by various human rights organisations, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has announced the launch of a two-week long protest campaign, which was to begin on 4 July 2002. The FNJ has sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, demanding an official inquiry into cases of journalists who have been killed or tortured in prison, the release of journalists still in custody and the lifting of all press censorship.
“Reporters Without Borders fully supports the Nepalese journalists’ campaign in protest of the government’s policy of media repression. No anti-terrorist struggle can justify the increasing abuses that are being committed against journalists and press freedom in Nepal since the state of emergency was declared on 26 November 2001,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general.
The FNJ’s memorandum also calls on the government to shed light on the case of Krishna Sen, editor-in-chief of the pro-Maoist newspaper “Janadisha”, who was arrested on 20 May. The Nepalese weekly “Jana Astha” recently announced that he had died under torture, and the information was confirmed by RSF. Having first maintained that Sen was still alive, the authorities published a statement on 4 July to the effect that they were looking for the journalist and would inform the press as soon as he was arrested. “This latest statement is as revolting as it is ridiculous,” Ménard stated.
RSF has also requested a meeting with the Nepalese Ambassador in Paris, Indra Bahadur Singh, in hopes of obtaining some real answers concerning the situation of imprisoned journalists in the country, and in particular the fate of Sen.
