(FNJ/IFEX) – Amrit Baskune, district correspondent of the Ujjwalo network and Nepal One television station, was threatened with murder by cadres of the Young Communist League (YCL), a Maoist-allied group, on 10 April 2008 at the Constituent Assembly election booth of Bikune, at the Jana Priya Primary School, Baranja VDC, Yarwan, in the Parbat district, […]
(FNJ/IFEX) – Amrit Baskune, district correspondent of the Ujjwalo network and Nepal One television station, was threatened with murder by cadres of the Young Communist League (YCL), a Maoist-allied group, on 10 April 2008 at the Constituent Assembly election booth of Bikune, at the Jana Priya Primary School, Baranja VDC, Yarwan, in the Parbat district, a western region of Nepal.
Om Prasad Ghayal, president of FNJ’s Parbat chapter, said the Maoists threatened Baskune simply because he has disseminated negative news about them. The Maoists also followed him while he was returning from the polling booth. He has informed human rights organizations and other journalists in the district about the threat, but no one had addressed the problem.
FNJ condemns the incident and asks the Maoists to be more respectful of journalists’ safety and security, press freedom and freedom of expression. FNJ requests that human rights organizations thoroughly and impartially investigate attacks on media persons, and urges journalists themselves to work collectively to bring such threats and attacks on journalists and media to public light.