Nepal
in Crisis 2005: Human Rights |
February
16, 2005 - PRESS RELEASE
HRW
Media
Blackout Heightens Risk of Abuses |
The
Nepalese army is preventing local journalists and rights activists from
publicizing abuses by the military or criticizing any government action,
Human Rights Watch said today. The
army's clampdown on Nepal's media is more than a matter of free speech.
Prohibiting public scrutiny of the army's actions puts Nepalis at greater
risk of abuses.
Since
February 1, when the Royal Nepal Army supported King Gyanendra's takeover
of power, the military has enforced restrictions on the press and human
rights activists. The military shut down the primary source of news for
most Nepalis: radio news broadcasts. In many cases, even sports news is
banned. Similarly, newspapers face stringent guidelines about what they
can report.
The
army has pursued its crackdown beyond the capital Kathmandu. In Nepalganj,
the largest city in western Nepal, military authorities directed the civilian
administration to issue guidelines restricting the content of newspapers.
These 12-point guidelines prohibit any criticism of the monarchy, the state
of emergency, or news that is intended to "demoralize" civil servants.
News about strikes is also forbidden, as is coverage of Maoist rebel attacks
(although news on civilians killed by the Maoists is permitted). The guidelines
also prohibit the coverage of information from any political parties and
other political organisations, and bans the publication of news from the
international media on the Maoists and other political groups in Nepal.
(Since the beginning of the civil war in 1996, Maoist rebels have been
responsible for numerous atrocities against civilians.)
Journalists
in Nepalganj were summoned to a meeting with the local military commander
and told they would not face any problems so long as they followed the
guidelines. A journalist who attended the meeting said: "I don't have any
questions about what could happen if I violated the guidelines. At any
rate, our editors are too scared to assign us stories that could lead to
criticism [of the army] or publish our stories if we write them."
"The
army's clampdown on Nepal's media is more than a matter of free speech,"
said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. "Prohibiting public
scrutiny of the army's actions puts Nepalis at greater risk of abuses."
Journalists
and human rights activists in the trekking resort city of Pokhara, about
150 kilometers west of Kathmandu said that they could not report on the
army's armed crackdown on students at the Prithwi Narayan University campus
on February 1. In this attack, one student was shot in the leg and 58 were
detained and beaten while in custody.
According
to witnesses, students began demonstrating immediately after the royal
proclamation of the King's takeover. Protesting students burned a government
motorcycle, and the protest eventually escalated into a standoff between
students inside the campus throwing stones and police and army units outside
the gates responding with teargas.
At
around 4 P.M., some 80 to 100 army troops, assisted by a helicopter, broke
through the university gate, and some troops fired their guns. One student,
19-year-old Geeta K.C., was shot in the right thigh as she was observing
the demonstration from about 150 meters away. Two female students who tried
to help her were later arrested, along with 56 male students.
The
students were blindfolded and taken to Fulbari Army Barracks, where they
were beaten, several of them severely. Soldiers beat a student leader so
severely that he suffers from impaired vision in his right eye. Other students
were repeatedly kicked by troops while they remained blindfolded and in
some cases handcuffed. The students were released the next day after the
dean of the university interceded with security officials.
About
170 political activists and student leaders remain under arrest in Nepal.
(For list of known cases, based on available information, please click
here.) Journalists, rights advocates and civil society activists from several
cities told Human Rights Watch that they have significantly curtailed their
activities because they fear army reprisals. Although few political party
activists at the district level have been detained, most political parties
have ceased operating openly.
Human
Rights Watch welcomed the release of several human rights activists, including
Sindhunath Pyakurel, a prominent human rights attorney and former President
of the Nepal Bar Association. He was released just two hours before Nepal's
Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his habeas corpus petition. Pyakurel,
whose heart condition had prompted international concern about his treatment,
said that he had been treated well in detention.
In
light of the thousands of "disappearances" that have occurred in the context
of the government's armed conflict with Maoist rebels, the most new cases
in any country in recent years, Human Rights Watch is especially concerned
for the safety of those in detention.
Several
countries withdrew their ambassadors from Nepal this week in protest of
the king's actions, including India, the United States, Britain, France
and Germany.
"The
army's tightening of restrictions on the media reflect its deepening grip
on political power in Nepal," said Adams. "International pressure on Nepal
must be directed at the army as well as the King. The King must immediately
lift these restrictions on the media, and return the military to civilian
control."
Source:
Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch
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