More than 200 Nepalese journalists arrested, dozens in custody Journalists continue fight against detentions, repressive media law
By Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, April 18, 2006—More than 200 Nepalese journalists have been detained since April 4 while participating in pro-democracy protests to demand press freedom or while covering the nationwide demonstrations, according to information compiled by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ). The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of the 31 journalists who remain in custody.
“Nepal’s journalists have fought admirably for the restoration of press freedom since King Gyanendra seized power and curbed their rights in February 2005,” said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. “The continued detention of more than 30 of our colleagues is a harsh reminder that the present regime regards a free press as a threat to its legitimacy. We call for their immediate release.”
Those still jailed include 20 journalists who were given a 90-day detention order by district administrators in Kathmandu on Sunday, according to FNJ reports. The journalists, members of Kathmandu-based press organization Press Chautari Nepal, had protested recent arrests and physical assaults targeting journalists. They are being held at Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu. Also in custody is Kanak Mani Dixit, a veteran journalist who was detained while participating in a protest on April 8.
Three journalists and a driver employed by the Kantipur media group were detained today while covering a protest staged by civil servants at the government complex Singha Durbar. Twenty-seven government employees were also arrested, the online version of Kantipur reported.
Home Ministry officials said they would release the staff members if Kantipur did not report the arrests, according to sources at the organization. The news outlet refused to bow to government pressure and went ahead with the reports. The four men were released this evening and were welcomed back to work by cheering colleagues.
As demonstrations continue throughout the country, the United Nations and allies of Nepal have called on the government to use restraint when confronting pro-democracy protesters. At least five protesters have been shot to death by security forces. Several journalists have been injured as security forces used rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons to disperse the crowds.
Also today, press freedom advocates Rabi Raj Bhandari and Khar Singh Khadka filed a petition with the Supreme Court today, challenging a repressive new media law promulgated early this month and announced on Sunday. The law stiffens the penalty for defamation, institutes specific bans on reporting on the government’s conflict with Maoist rebels, and orders private FM radio stations to stop broadcasting news. Since the new law was announced, several radio stations have received verbal orders from local administrators to silence their news broadcasts, according to local news reports. Journalists and lawyers in Nepal have argued that the law violates constitutional safeguards on free expression.
“This media law is unconstitutional and presents a real threat to the ability of Nepal’s press to function at all,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “It should be scrapped.”
CPJ is a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org.
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
phone: (212)465-1004 ext 115
fax: (212)465-9568
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Comments
21 responses to “Crackdown on Nepali Journalism”
The situation in Nepal is worsening by the minute,being a Nepali who is looking out side in is very troubling.I think the international community, whether its UN or who ever needs to take a hard look at the oppressive nature of this monarch, and take into account that the”king” is held responsible for any act of human rights violation,torture,kidnapping,in-discriminatory killing of “innocent civillians”, etc etc.I hope when the dust settles that he will be brought to justice,and be held accountable for the atrocities.
god bless fellow Nepalese.
man…. nepal is gonna down for sure.. hell its gone already down…..
fk the king. fk the parties… fk the people…fk the maoist….fk this blog…. fk all…fk the god and fk pasupatinath…….
i am a be a foreign national….be it even sudan or rwanda…..if i get to get the citizenship there i am gone…..
man kills my heart to see this situation of nepal….who is resposnsible and who is what does not fkin matter a pinch bit….. whats happening is the thing that mattters….. and my country is tearing into pieces……i feel ashamed as a nepali right now…..peaceful nepal and peaceloving nepali….fk all this bull crap…. raja doshi party doshi ko doshi ke doshi… nepal jali rako cha…fk alll man this is helll this complete helll…. for the fisrt time in my life i feel ashamed being a nepali.fk alll
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fck you being ashamed of Nepali.
yeah and fk u being a bigmouth beech….try asking how proud nepali a dude is paying 70 80 rs for a packet of salt right now….. imagine that…. keyboard happy freedom fighter….. walk the walk and see the ground reality….and keep ur khokro pride to urself….. a bhariya bro is dying there without work…a riksa bro is dying there without food…. and dont give me ur bs from the safe haven of some developed country…..
a hugry belly doesnt not understand whats right and whats wrong…. a hungry hungry father doesnot see what is good and what is bad…..
rana shah muoji haru bhanda ta ta bahun haru ley po dher kamako rachas ta……. barsa ko 350 din hadtal garera ni khanu pugney haru……kagati ko tir na 13 rupiya ani tha paunchau jathaharu…. jyaladari garney majdoor lai sodh na ke ho loktantra ke ho rajtantra…..
what if i dont choose a loktantra rajtantra whatever…dont i have a right to live because of the nonsese goru ko judhai bacha ko michai…. thats bull….
pride my fkig buttcrack….
check this
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hike in kagati ko price and pyaj ko price would affect more to the people living in kathmandu and other cities than poor people living in the rural areas…I dont say that poor people are untouched by the effect of growing tensions…but they are comaparatably less affected than the middle class ……but let me teell you it is the poor people who have been suffeering from centuries in nepal …thats why they are risking their life and participating in the movement with the expectation that they dont have to suffer anymore in the future..what do ya think..all tha bahuns are there in the streets …no there are propotionally fvery few bahuns and chetries of cities fighiting..it is the people of rural areas ..suburbans and outskirts of cities areas who are intensifying the movement..be it bahun, chetri or any other castes….when it comes to nakabandi and andolan..those middle and higher class would always air such propoganda that poor people would be affected more….yes they are also affected..but they have been affected for centuries and they will continue to suffer if the problem of maoist is not solved and the country is still being ruled by samanti barga. they know that they would be poorer for centuries under the saha regime..thats why they are fighitng for the final battle..
and let me tell you i have never been proud this much when all the nepali people have recognized the importace of their right and freedom….I am proud tht nepal is no longer going to be a coutry of RAnas, thapas and sahas.. I am proud that it is not america or india who have to send their soldiers to free us…
i support u Bravo,
these superficial people donot have compassion for the age old suppression and suffering of rural, poor, people but they make such a big issue when there is shortage of petrol or suger.
‘aatinne ra paatinne baani chodera more substantial analysis hunu paryo.’
Of course now our country is going through violence, mess and chaos.
But inside every problem there is seed of solution.
In fact, I am excited by this revolution.
Only in such revolutions, there are questions, doubts, analysis, discussions, diagreement, agreement, dreams ,and solutions.
All our faith, rules, constitution, beliefs come as subject of analysis and therefore give a way towards stronger,fairer, truer, better belief system.
‘ahile desbyapi bahas cha, sabai janata utheka chan, sabaile manan garna thaleka chan’
me myself was oblivious about significance of democracy before 3 years(when i was a teenager) but due to this revolution, due to this suffering, my belief on democracy has been so firm. and i am sure so is with so many other youths. At least new generation has awoken with their faith on democracy.
rajtantra, samantabaad hamro itihaas ma gadeko khil ho, hamro system ko tumor ho.
hence, we have to do the operation, it hurts, it is dangerous, but that is the only way, that is the best way.
the operation may fail but we all have to give our best efforts.
Once we overthrow this doom of monarchy, samantabaad, we will have beautiful morning, with better constitution, better system, better democracy, better people and better nation.
i am really dying to see this morning….i am sure most nepalese are too.
fkers keep ur baad and tantra to urself……its becase of bllshit dikheads like u a simple life has beeen filled with fear and terrror.hungry is hungry, living is dying, u happy somewhere in the US..and u talk big bullthsit…. samnata bad, leninbad rajtanra, prajatantra….. lmao garnu yo saap ley……
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if you dont want to discuss anything about politics and any kind of baad..you are not in the right place..i think you should find some porn sites and post your ugly comment there..
i should had expected that u would come up with some very sensible logic. and yeah i followed it, cheked one porn site out…saw ur mom..liked it…. do u want the link BRAVO
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you a pathetic looser…
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I feel pity towards you.such a pathetic person trying to prove himself concerned towards his country..Now i am also ashamed about my country.as she also produced a kaput like you..I do not know why I was confronting with you in the first place..because starting from your first comment i knew that you are not worth of responding..gu lai chalaye gandha bhanne tha hunda hundai tan gu lai chalaunda bekar ma t-shirt ma chitta nai paryo.
internet happy freedom fighter… u can bark all u want… amrika ma basera thulo kura garera thulo huinnna… jyaladari ma kaam gar ni kagati ko 15 rupiya tir tha huncha…. ke loktantra ke prajatnatra ke raj tantra….saap tantra tha huncha….
and yes at this moment i do not feel proud being a nepali even a hint bit.is there any ground….
hutu were proud being hutu. tutsi were proud being tutsi… shiya are proud being shiya and sunni are proud being sunni…. is not a relevant case but one thing is in common and ie. destruction of the country….keep on beinng proud…i dont i cant.
Are we living in the mediveal times ? is this the way the government treats its fourth body of the state.When i say that i am seeing a history in a making i mean it , their days are numbered , its just a matter of how long they are going to drag this ? it is only going to bring more shame .
Good observation, your ideas are right on.
I must admit that I found this site by mistake but this is a great site!!! I wish more people will invest their time to build sites like this one. Thank you
Bravo,
you assholes are putting oil on the caste and racism in nepal. bahun and chhetris are proportionally high in nepal. therefore, definitely occupied good postion out there. they are studious, laborious and literate and hence have better opporutnity than who has not that credential. thefore, i myself being gurung dont blame any caste rather i see myself whether i am worth competing with others or not.
fuck you bravo
reply all,
you are dirty m*fk beech. the person like you are the source of producing the flame of racism in nepal.
fuck you asshole
Hey guys, common just be serious, see u people have created such a mess here, so how could we be in peace, just say speak your own mind and if someone likes than its cool and if not, lets be quite, WHY FIGHT? even here.
Press freedom as such is non existent.
Not just in this country. The irony is that journalist should be able to inform the public and status quo is sitting uncomfortably but still not unconfartable enough to allow reality of the rest of the world. This was the case in Germany in the second world war, they claimed they did not know.
That is comfortable, the whole jewish and gypsi and homosexual population got erased from the earth, and up to this day there are Holocaust deniers.
In Latin America Amnesty international, e.g. Peru during the rise of the farmers movements, Amnesty International was accused of being a terrorist organization; then now to my great surprise, 13 years later people that are like my people speak of the time of terrorism. Quite comparable, the few white families that were landowners ruled the country and 80% is indigenous, indian, brown coloured, and laughed at for being a stupid indio. In Argentina it is o so nice, but entire generations do not wish to return to that place of torture and bloodshed. Then they did some kind of process, and the famous INDULTOS. No proper punishing that means. So we have not even begun that. The military in the whole of Latin America cooperate to keep power. I don’t think I ever travelled as a journalist, I don’t remember the professions I put on the tourist visa, yes tourist probably, always a tourist.
But network international journalist organizations, to some point it will be unsafe for white people to travel and no need, why get them killed, communication has different ways this way. Serving the truth .
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