A Voice For the Voiceless

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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Bulletin #1: Muzzling the Press

(The following was compiled from press contacts in Nepal)

Kathmandu, February 3, 2005: Freedom of expression, political organizing, assembly, among others, have been the first casualties of the king's takeover on February 1, 2005. Below are only a small number of incidents narrated by those working in Nepal's media industry:

1. All private media outlets have been virtually run by military personnel since yesterday. In  Rajdhani Daily, one of the vernacular dailies published from Kathmandu, an army major commanded about a dozen military personnel and forced the editors to show all reports to him for approval before the paper is sent to press. "You have written about Girija and Madhav Kumar Nepal for the last fourteen years. Now is the time for you to write about His Majesty the king", the major told one of the editors.

2. In the Kantipur offices, which publishes Kantipur and Kathmandu Post dailies as well as broadcasting the Kantipur news program on television, army personnel circulate through the newsroom. The newspaper staff reports that they have been told to pass all stories by army personnel for approval before printing the paper, or the newspapers will be shut down.

Army personnel also stand by in the broadcast building while news programs are being aired. The February 2, 2005 Kathmandu Post printed mainly news stories from the governmental news feed, the Rastriya Samachar Samiti, while most days the paper publishes reports mainly written by staff.

3. In Jana Astha, a vernacular weekly published from Kathmndu, the army major sat in a chair in front of the editor's table and dictated word by word what he should be writing in the editorial. Another matter of  discussion was whether the paper could publish an abstract cartoon, which showed a pigeon escaping from two hands. It would symbolize that peace would become more distant.

4. A number of armymen sat through the night in the office of Sankhu, a vernacular weekly published from Kathmandu, even though the publishers and editorial team had decided not to publish their upcoming issue.

5. Radio Sagarmatha, the first community radio station in South Asia, is now being manned full-time by khaki-clad and machine-gun-totting Royal Nepal Army officers. They have not allowed any news, discussions or regular programs to be broadcast. On the morning of February 2nd, they did not even allowed a discussion on women's health problems involving uterus prolapse.

The officers said that no news can be broadcast from now on. The army personnel controlled the records of all the visitors and staff  coming and going (photographs attached).

6. In Pokhara, a city 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu, armymen told the local media to shut down "until further notice". "You don't have to publish news from now onwards. This is the responsibility of the Kathmandu-based daily papers,"  said an army personnel to a local reporter of one of the national vernacular dailies.

7. The king ‘invited’ all the editors of major national dailies and ‘asked’ them to cooperate with his government.

8. All the FM stations outside the Kathmandu Valley have been shut down.

9. Army personnel have taken charge of both Nepal Telecom and UTL, the two companies providing telephone and other communication services. All mobile and landline telephone service was still shut off as February  2nd.

10. Army personnel have taken control of all the internet-service providers in the country and have shut down all internet service.

11. Security forces have placed the leaders of most of the political parties under arrest until further notice. Student group leaders have also been placed under arrest. There's also rumor that the head of a major human rights organization was also placed under arrest.

INSN is the International Nepal Solidarity Network, which has activists in over a dozen countries around the world who are working to bring democracy to Nepal. Visit their website for regular updates related to the Nepal crisis.