26 April 2006
JOURNALISTS AT FOREFRONT OF PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS
Victory celebrations are being held in Kathmandu, Nepal after King Gyanendra bowed to massive public pressure and announced on 24 April 2006 that he would re-instate the country's parliament.
Journalists and human rights activists have been at the centre of widespread protests that have brought hundreds of thousands into the streets in the past week.
The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) hailed the announcement and thanked local and international organisations for showing their support for Nepalese journalists and human rights advocates. The Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES) also thanked members of the IFEX community and other international groups for their support.
The leaders of Nepal's seven largest political parties, who formed a united front with Maoist rebels last November to oppose the King, have nominated Nepali Congress Party leader Girija Prasad Koirala to serve as interim prime minister until parliamentary elections are held. Parliament is to re-convene on 28 April for the first time since May 2002.
In the past few weeks, many IFEX members have called attention to the Nepalese army's excessive use of force in quelling nation-wide protests, which led to the deaths of 14 people and thousands injured.
In one case, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported that Mahendra Bista, FNJ's secretary general, and thee other members - Shailendra Basnet, Krishna Humagain and Man Bahadur Neupane - received severe head injuries after police in Kathmandu disrupted an FNJ demonstration on 15 April.
FNJ and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report that more than 200 journalists were detained while participating in, or covering, the protests. As of 21 April, 20 journalists are reportedly still in detention, according to CPJ and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF). Ongoing efforts are being made to release them from prison.
Since sacking the parliament in 2002 and imposing autocratic rule, King Gyanendra's rule has been heavily criticised by free expression groups for muzzling the country's press and severely restricting the flow of information within the country.
Visit these links:
- FNJ: http://www.fnjnepal.org/
- CEHURDES: http://www.cehurdes.org.np/
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=3851&Language=EN
- IPI: http://www.freemedia.at/r_wl_nepal.htm
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/asia/nepal21apr06na.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17266
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/04/18/nepal13204.htm
- Backgrounder on Nepal's Civil Conflict: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/28/nepal13078.htm
- King Bows to the People: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33007
- Nepalese Celebrate Return to Democracy: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/25/news/nepal.php
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