New York, April 11, 2005 – Police in the Tanahu district in western Nepal are holding a local journalist for a three-month detention. The journalist, editor Robin Poudel of Tanahu Aawaj weekly newspaper, was arrested on Friday while covering a demonstration in Damauli that was called to protest the state of emergency established by King…
New York, April 8, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Nepalese government’s abrupt decision to stop publishing all ads in private media—an action that CPJ interprets as an attempt to stifle critical coverage. According to a copy of a government memo reproduced on April 6 in the weekly Jana Aastha, the new…
APRIL 4, 2005 Posted: April 7, 2005 Prabhakar Ghimire, Kantipur Narayan Sharma, Kantipur Khuman Singh Tamang, Kantipur HARASSED, THREATENED The three reporters for Kantipur, the country’s largest circulation Nepali-language daily, were called in for questioning by police in the southern city of Chitwan after their April 3 article, citing unnamed police sources, described the torching…
New York, April 4, 2005 – A critically wounded Nepali editor died last Friday, according to local news reports. Khagendra Shrestha, editor and publisher of Dharan Today newspaper, was shot in the head by unidentified gunmen just over two weeks ago. The assailants overtook him in his Dharan office, 335 miles east of Kathmandu. Shrestha,…
APRIL 1, 2005 Posted: April 11, 2005 Abdul Jabbar Bazar, Aina TV ATTACKED, THREATENED Government officials in the city of Shibirghan in the northern Jawzjan Province threatened and attacked reporter Bazar after his story exposing local corruption aired on the private television channel. Local sources tell CPJ that officials threatened to attack Bazar again if…
Your Majesty: In the Royal Proclamation of February 1, Your Majesty dismissed the government, declared a state of emergency and curtailed civil liberties. In early February, we visited Nepal’s ambassador to the United States, Kedar Bhakta Shrestha, who assured us that restrictions on the press were temporary and that Your Majesty was committed to democracy and free expression.
New York, March 28, 2005—In a brazen attack last Thursday, a gunman walked into columnist Marlene Garcia-Esperat’s house in the city of Tacurong, and shot her in front of her family. Garcia-Esperat died instantly from the single bullet wound to her head, police told reporters. The gunman and his accomplice escaped from the scene on…
MARCH 24, 2005 Updated December 6, 2005 Marlene Garcia-Esperat, Midland News and DXKR KILLED—CONFIRMED A gunman walked into columnist Marlene Garcia-Esperat’s house in the city of Tacurong, and shot her in front of her family. Garcia-Esperat died instantly from the single bullet wound to her head, police told reporters. The gunman and his accomplice escaped…
New York, March 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at the Chinese government’s repeated prosecution of Internet essayists on “antistate” charges. Political essayist Zhang Lin was formally arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion for his online writings, his wife told CPJ this week. Chinese state media also reported recently that Internet journalist Zheng…