(FNJ/IFEX) – On 16 November 2007, Ram Kumar Elan, correspondent of “Naya Patrika Daily”, and Girija Adhikari, publisher of “Sama Weekly”, received a death threat from Jaya Bahadur Khadka, a deputy inspector general with the National Investigation Regional Office of Hetuda, in Makawanpur, a district neighboring Kathmandu. According to Pratap Bista, president of FNJ’s Makawanpur […]
(FNJ/IFEX) – On 16 November 2007, Ram Kumar Elan, correspondent of “Naya Patrika Daily”, and Girija Adhikari, publisher of “Sama Weekly”, received a death threat from Jaya Bahadur Khadka, a deputy inspector general with the National Investigation Regional Office of Hetuda, in Makawanpur, a district neighboring Kathmandu.
According to Pratap Bista, president of FNJ’s Makawanpur Chapter, Elan and Adhikari disseminated the news that Khadka had granted entry to four loaded trucks from India without their first passing customs clearance. Following their dissemination of this report, they received a threat from Khadka by telephone.
FNJ condemns the incident. Nobody should threaten journalists over the news they disseminate. It is shameful that journalists are threatened repeatedly by government officials. FNJ urges the government to take strong action against the perpetrator and to provide protection to the two journalists involved.