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 | | Friday, 11 January, 2002, 11:28 GMT Nepal journalists 'must be freed'  Reports of the army's operations cannot be verified More than 30 journalists have been arrested in Nepal since the government imposed a state of emergency in November, a leading Nepalese journalists' organisation said on Friday. "The journalists are arrested by the police and are later handed over to the army security who are mentally torturing them during their custody," Tara Nath Dahal of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists said, according to the AFP news agency. Mr Dahal said most of the detained journalists had been linked to articles about Nepal's Maoist rebels. More than 2,000 people have died n the rebels' six-year campaign to replace the constitutional monarchy with a communist republic. 'Stop the torture' Shortly after the state of emergency came into effect, the government urged the press not to publish articles sympathetic to the rebels.
"We, the journalists have been co-operating with the government during the state of emergency and we are abiding with the government's censorship also," Mr Dahal said. "The security personnel or police have to stop the torture." Mr Dahal said that of those journalists who had been arrested, 10 were still being held and should be released immediately. A number of civil liberties including press freedom have been suspended under the terms of the emergency. The state of emergency was introduced after the rebels called off a ceasefire, resulting in heavy violence. The government then deployed the Nepalese army against the rebels for the first time. The Ministry of Defence regularly issues statements on the progress of the offensive, often saying that the rebels have suffered heavy casualties. However, it has been impossible to independently verify the progress of the army operations. | |
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