Dear Prime Minister Bhattarai: We are alarmed by recent reports regarding the planned amnesty of criminal cases pending from past political violence in Nepal and are writing to express our concern that people convicted of killing journalists could go free based on political decisions made by your government.
New York, August 12, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today about a brutal attack on journalist Kishor Budhathoki in eastern Nepal on Thursday night. Budhathoki is vice president of the local chapter of press freedom watchdog the Federation of Nepali Journalists and also reports for sister papers The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post.
New York, June 14, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed today the conviction of two suspects in the 2009 murder of journalist Uma Singh, but called for a continued investigation into the remaining suspects in the attack. A court in Dhanusa district sentenced Lalita Singh and Nemlal Paswan to life imprisonment for their involvement in the…
Partisan Journalism and the Cycle of Repression by Bob Dietz and Shawn W. Crispin Lal Wickramatunga’s family and publishing house, Leader Publications, have paid dearly in Sri Lanka’s highly charged political climate. While Leader’s newspapers, including the weekly Sunday Leader, are widely known for tough, independent reporting, they have been caught up in a partisan…
Top Developments • Three media owners slain. Kantipur group faces threats, obstruction. • Maoist cadres burn copies of two Kathmandu newspapers. Key Statistic 7th: Ranking on CPJ’s Impunity Index, reflecting one of the world’s worst records in solving press murders. The repeated failure to elect a leader cast doubt on the success of Nepal’s transition…
Nepal’s new Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal should be setting a new tone. Law and order–and with it, journalists’ security–have suffered in the seven months since Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned and has been filling in as interim leader. Khanal could be making public commitments to reversing the atmosphere of impunity that is promoting media attacks. Instead,…