(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the arrests of seven journalists, carried out during the last few days. **Updates IFEX alerts of 6 January 1999** According to RSF’s sources, on 1 April 1999, the Kathmandu Valley police arrested three journalists from the tabloid “Jwala” – publisher Chun Bahadur Gurung, journalists Danda Bahadur Gurung and Deepak Khanal […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the arrests of seven journalists, carried out
during the last few days.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 6 January 1999**
According to RSF’s sources, on 1 April 1999, the Kathmandu Valley police
arrested three journalists from the tabloid “Jwala” – publisher Chun Bahadur
Gurung, journalists Danda Bahadur Gurung and Deepak Khanal – and seized
computers and printing equipment. The journalists are said to have been
transferred to a prison in Kathmandu, and are accused of “creating unrest
and insulting the state.” On 5 April, Bhim Prakash Sharma, publisher of the
weekly “Jana-Ahwan”, and Om Sharma, executive editor, were also arrested by
the police in Kathmandu. The same day, a freelance photographer named Arun
Pant was arrested by plainclothes policemen, his studio was ransacked and
his films were seized. Similarly, according to a newspaper, Rishi Raj Baral,
a consulting editor of the weekly “Yojana”, was also arrested. All the
arrests occurred in the context of the “war” between the Nepalese
authorities and Maoist guerrillas in the south of the country and the
newspapers mentioned are suspected of having links with the rebels.
RSF notes that Nepal has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, of which Article 19 guarantees the freedom to inform and
to be informed.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Prime Minister:
immediately released if they were exercising their duties or expressed their
opinions peacefully
government
do not use the fight against the Maoist movement as a pretext to muzzle the
opposition press
Appeals To
His Excellency Prime Minister
Girija Prasad Koiral
Kathmandu, Nepal
Fax : +977 1 227 286
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
