(CEHURDES/IFEX) – A person identifying himself as Shobhit Banset recently threatened two journalists associated with Kamana Publications Group Pvt. Ltd. Banset made repeated threatening telephone calls to Tanka Panta and Dipak Rijal on 20 September 2002. He claimed to be associated with the underground Communist Party of Nepal (CPN, Maoist party), and threatened to “physically […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – A person identifying himself as Shobhit Banset recently threatened two journalists associated with Kamana Publications Group Pvt. Ltd.
Banset made repeated threatening telephone calls to Tanka Panta and Dipak Rijal on 20 September 2002. He claimed to be associated with the underground Communist Party of Nepal (CPN, Maoist party), and threatened to “physically eliminate” the reporters if they continued to write critically about his party.
On 20 September, the daily “Nepal Samacharpatra”, with which the journalists are affiliated, wrote a special commentary on behalf of newspaper publishers, condemning the incident. Commenting on the incident, the CPN’s Kathmandu Unit denied that any person representing the organisation was involved in the telephone threats to the two Kamana Publications journalists.
In a separate incident, an explosive was found at the front gate of Mahendra Sherchan’s house in Kopundole on 22 September. Sherchan is chairman and managing director of Utsarga Publication Pvt. Ltd., which publishes “Rajdhani”, a leading Nepalese daily. Security forces defused the bomb. Condemning the incident, “Rajdhani” reported that Maoist rebels might have been responsible for the incident.
CEHURDES condemns such incidents of psychological torture against journalists and urges the respect of media freedom.
Background Information
Following the imposition of a state of emergency in Nepal on 26 November 2001, more than 150 journalists have been arrested in different parts of the country. The state of emergency was lifted on 28 August, but nearly three dozen journalists remain in detention. Some journalists have reportedly been tortured, both physically and psychologically. Several detainees’ whereabouts are unknown. There have been no reports of official charges filed against any of the detained journalists.
