ap: CPJ Says Nepalese Journalists Tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused the Nepalese government of using emergency rule to arrest and torture journalists.
"We are alarmed by the arrest of journalists in Nepal who are tortured, blindfolded, and even threatened with death while in custody," said Josh Friedman of the Committee to Protect Journalists at a news conference. "This has no place in a democracy like Nepal." Members of the advocacy group spent two weeks visiting journalists in Nepal who have been detained by the authorities, and they also spoke to others worried about press freedoms. After the guerrillas broke a cease-fire in November and resumed attacks on government forces, Nepal imposed emergency rule that suspended constitutional guarantees of free expression and prohibitions against prior restraint. More than 100 journalists have been detained by the police and two dozen are still in custody, according to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, an umbrella group of Nepalese media organizations. (see www.editorandpublisher.com)