Nepal / Asia

JUNE 3, 2005 Posted: June 9, 2005 Nepal Telecom Company ATTACKED Armed Maoist rebels destroyed a telecommunication tower in Chinchu in the Midwestern district of Surkhet by detonating a pipe bomb late at night, according to local press accounts. Local phone service has been disrupted.

New York, June 2, 2005 – The director of a recently banned radio production and distribution company filed a legal challenge with Nepal’s Supreme Court, inspiring local radio journalists to protest. In his May 30 petition to the court, Communication Corner Director Gopal Guragain said that the government’s May 27 ban was an illegal effort…

MAY 30, 2005 Posted: June 7, 2005 Staff, Communication Corner CENSORED The director of a banned radio production and distribution company filed a legal challenge with Nepal’s Supreme Court, inspiring local radio journalists to protest.

New York, May 24, 2005—Hundreds of journalists took to the streets of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, today in a silent protest of reported government moves to amend the media law to impose further restrictions on the press. The Kathmandu-based dailies Kantipur and Kathmandu Post, citing an unnamed source, reported late last week that officials had moved…

MAY 19, 2005 Posted: June 7, 2005 Ghodaghodi FM ATTACKED A group of 40 armed men thought to be Maoist rebels stormed the private FM radio station in Attariya, a village in the far western Kailali district, 375 miles west of Kathmandu. The group looted the station’s broadcasting equipment, computers, and furniture valued at US…

MAY 18, 2005 Posted: June 10, 2005 Kanak Mani Dixit, Himal Khabarpatrika Guna Raj Luitel, Kantipur, Yubaraj Ghimire, Samay Tara Nath Dahal, Federation of Nepalese Journalists HARASSED

MAY 18, 2005 Posted: June 10, 2005 Nepal Television ATTACKED Rebels bombed the state-owned Nepal Television tower in the western district of Palpa, according to local and international news reports. No one was hurt, but broadcasts of Nepal Television in the region were disrupted, according to the online version of the daily Kantipur and The…

New York, May 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the safety of reporter Som Sharma, who was abducted from his residence in the eastern district of Ilam late last week. The abduction is one of several serious attacks on the press in recent days by both Maoist rebels and the government.…

MAY 13, 2005 Updated: June 10, 2005 Som Sharma, Aankha ABDUCTED Maoist rebels abducted Sharma, a reporter for the weekly newspaper Aankha, from his home in the eastern district of Ilam. Rebels released Sharma on July 9 after negotiations with the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ).

Your Majesty: Nearly 100 days after Your Majesty dismissed the government and curtailed civil liberties, press freedom has not been restored. Your Majesty has not lifted a ban on reporting that goes “against the letter and spirit” of your February 1 proclamation. A ban on FM radio news broadcasting remains in place, depriving rural citizens of their only source of independent news. And your government continues to harass and intimidate journalists.