NPL 002 / 0205 / OBS 010.1
Releases / Arbitrary Arrests
Nepal
March 2, 2005
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Nepal.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources of the release of several trade union leaders and human rights defenders.
According to the information received, Ms. Manju Bhattarai, member of the Central Committee of the Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Mr. Kishore Gautam, former NTUC District President, and Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri, General Secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), were released on February 25, 2005.
Besides, Professor Lokraj Baral, Messrs. Khagendra Bhattarai, former president of Nepal Lecturers Association, and Shiva Bahadur Basnet were released on the same day in the supervision of district court officials in Kathmandu.
Furthermore, Mr. Gauri Pradhan, founder and President of the Child Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN), was released from police custody on February 28, 2005 on the order of the Supreme Court, reportedly on the grounds that he was being held "in illegal detention". Yet he was promptly rearrested outside the court house by security forces in plain clothes. But they were accordingly soon ordered over a walkie-talkie to release him, and they then brought him back home. The Supreme Court order for Mr. Gauri Pradhan's release came at the end of an all-day hearing on his habeas corpus petition, requiring him to be brought before a court or judge.
The Observatory calls upon the Nepalese authorities to guarantee that once set free, all charges against these human rights defenders be definitively dropped and their rights be fully respected.
In addition, the Observatory urges the Nepalese authorities to confirm this first positive step by liberating all remaining human rights defenders, immediately and unconditionally. Indeed, the Observatory recalls that many human rights defenders remain in detention in Nepal.
These human rights defenders are, among others:
- Mr. Nanda Bhandari, lawyer and member of the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT), arrested on February 1, 2005, and detained in Surkhet district under the Public Security Act (PSA);
- Mr. Lok Prasad Pant, lawyer and Chairman of the Civil Society Network, arrested on February 1, 2005, detained at the Birendranagar jail, Surkhet district;
- Mr. Bal Krishna Poudel, Secretary of the Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON) in Chitwan district, arrested on the same day;
- Mr. Bam Dev Adhikari, Vice-Person of the Society for Protection of Human Rights and Rural Environment (SOPHRE), arrested on February 4, 2005, in Lamjung district;
- Mr. Nava Raj Pahadi, editor at Antaranga Weekly, arrested in Lamjung district on February 4;
- Mr. Sukharam Maharjan, Vice Chairperson of the Kirtipur Branch of the Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON), taken away from his residence, Kathmandu district, on February 9, 2005, by five security members;
- Mr. Krishna Pahadi, former President of the Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) and former chairman of the Nepal section of Amnesty International, arrested at HURPES offices in Kathmandu on the same day. He is detained under PSA;
- Messrs. Narayan Adhikari, correspondent at the national news agency RSS (Rastriya Samachar Samitte), and Basant Parajuli, correspondent at Gorakhapatra Daily, arrested in Chitwan district on February 13, 2005. Two days later, D.R. Pant, correspondent at Kantipur Daily, was also arrested.
Moreover, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), five activists of the ICFTU-affiliated NTUC, Mr. Bhakta B. Karki, Vice-President, Western Region (Dhangadi), Mr. Deepak Tamang, President, Jhapa District, Ms. Sarita Boon, District Member, Kathmandu-Teachers, Ms. Gita Pathak, Central Member, Construction Workers' Union, and Mr. Chandra Bhattari, Senior Vice President, Construction Workers' Union, Pokhara, are currently under arrest.
Background information:
On February 1, 2005, King Gyandendra and the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) seized effective control of all level of powers, declaring a sate of emergency and suspending fundamental constitutional rights. Lawyers, human rights defenders, political and student leaders, as well as journalists and trade unionists were then arbitrarily arrested and most of them remain currently in detention (see Observatory Urgent Appeal NPL 002/0205/OBS010 and Press Release, February 22, 2005).
Several leaders of the NTUC were amongst the detained, including Mr. Puskar Acharya, Senior Vice-President, and Ms. Manju Bhattarai, both arrested on February 1, 2005, respectively in Morang and Kathmandu districts. In poor health, without access to proper medical care and stripped of basic hygiene requirements, Ms. Manju was also being deprived of sufficient food at her place of detention.
On February 4, 2005, Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri, Secretary General of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), was arrested at his residence in Kathmandu by security forces dressed in plain clothes, two days after the FNJ issued a statement condemning the move by King Gyanendra of Nepal to take direct control of the government as a "coup against democracy". Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri said that he was "hooded" and taken to the RNA headquarters at Bhadrakali, Kathmandu. The next day, he was transferred to police custody at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu. On February 14, 2005, the Supreme Court issued a notice to government authorities, giving them three days to inform the Court of the reasons for his arrest. Responding on behalf of the government, the Chief District Officer of Kathmandu informed the Supreme Court on February 21, 2005 that Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri was in government detention under provisions of the PSA.
On February 4, 2005, the security forces also raided the Federation's offices and the residence of its President, Mr. Tara Nath Dahal, who had gone into hiding following his issuing of press releases throughout the country and abroad. Mr. Tara Nath's family members have been allegedly harassed by the security forces, and their residence as well as FNJ's offices remain under surveillance by the army.
On February 17, 2005, Mr. Gauri Pradhan was arrested by the police at Kathmandu Airport, following his return from Geneva, Switzerland, where he was attending a working group meeting of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. He was reportedly being held at the police headquarters in Naxal, Kathmandu.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Nepal urging them to:
- take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in the country;
- release immediately and unconditionally all human rights defenders and prisoners of opinion who are arbitrarily detained;
- lift the state of emergency and reinstate the rule of law;
- end all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in Nepal, and guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations are able to carry out their work without any hindrance;
- ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", article 6 on the right "to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights and fundamental freedoms", "to freely publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms" and "to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters", as well as article 12.2, which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
- guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Nepal.
Addresses:
- His Majesty King Gyanendra, Narayanhity Royal Palace, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal c/o Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Nepal to the United Nations, 81 rue de la Servette, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 733 27 22; E-mail: mission.nepal@ties.itu.int
- Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Pulchowck, Lalitpur, Nepal; Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Nepal in your respective countries.
Paris - Geneva, March 2, 2005
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
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