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NEPAL: Arrests made ahead of public rallies in the capital, Kathmandu

April 6, 2006

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

6 April 2006
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UA-117-2006: NEPAL: Arrests made ahead of public rallies in the capital, Kathmandu

NEPAL: Arbitrary arrest and detention; freedom of assembly; right to peaceful protest; collapse of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with information regarding police in Nepal having detained more than 100 people for planning to defy a ban on public rallies in the capital, Kathmandu. The arrests come a day ahead of a planned anti-monarchy protest and four-day general strike by a seven-party opposition alliance. Though the actions have been condemned by the international community many of those arrested remain detained and have yet to be informed what the charges against them are. Furthermore, due to curfews having been imposed in the city, it is increasingly unlikely that the planned demonstrations will go ahead.

In the lead-up to the proposed peaceful demonstration to be conducted by the seven political parties, the police have begun their crackdown by arresting approximately one hundred people. Political figures, lawyers, journalists, teachers, doctors and political activists have been arrested, with many having been taken following police raids on their homes.

The lawyers arrested are: Shambhu Thapa (NBA President), Sher Bahadur KC (NBC Vice-President), Madhav Banskota (NBA General Secretary), Ishwari Bhattarai (President of the NBA Court of Appeal Patan Unit), Yogendra Adhikari (President of the NBA Kathmandu District Court Unit), Hari Upreti, Ramesh Badal, Kamal Iteni, Basudev Acharya, Pravin Kharel, Nawraj Khatiwada, Bikal Prajapati and Hariram Suwal. The lawyers have been detained without being informed of the charges against them. They are currently being held in Ward No. 10 Police Office Baneshwar, Kathmandu. One lawyer, Damodar Khadka, was detained early this morning when security officials entered his house without a warrant for the entry or his arrest. He is currently being held with 13 other lawyers who were detained this morning as they prepared for a demonstration at New Baneshwor, Kathmandu.

Among the journalists arrested are: Harihar Birahi, Bishnu Nishthuri, Mahendra Bista, Kosh Raj Koirala, Bharat Pokhrel, Yubaraj Acharya, Sudarshan Acharya, Binod Phahari, Navaraj Sharma, Krishna Humagain, Hemant Kafle, Gyanram Shrestha, Laxman Karki, Purna Basnet, Bal Kumar Nepal, Devraj Rimal, Nabin Pariyar, Baburam Dhakal, Ujjowal Acharya, Damodar Prasad Acharya, Kanak Mani Dixit, Dharmendra Jha, Rajendra Aryal, Bimal Gautam, Govinda Chaulagain, Prakash Silwal, Lila Raj Khanal, Nirmala Sharma, Shiva Gauley, Shankar Lal Malla, Indra Bania, Roshan Rai, Ujir Magar and Kiran Pokhrel. The journalists have reportedly been moved to Mahendra Police Office, Kathmandu.

According to Nepali Congress (Democratic), police without any arrest warrant entered the houses of various leaders of the party early morning of April 6 and arrested at least 14 leaders of the party. Among the arrested are: Bimalendra Nidhi (party general secretary), Dr. Minendra Rizal, Manmohan Bhattarai and Indra Bahadur Gurung (all central members). Others arrested are: Arun Singh Rathor, Dhurba Adhikari, Damodar Khadka, Chakra Thakuri, Sabuj Krishna Bania, NSU general secretary Kalyan Gurung, Manju Khand, Sudarshan Acharya and Bishnu Adhikari.

The police also arrested at least 22 leaders of the CPN-UML. According to the party, the arrested leaders include: Shuvas Chandra Nemwang, Ram Chandra Jha, Keshav Badal, Bhim Rawal, Gopal Shakya and Raghu Pant. The police also arrested 15 political leaders from a protest rally organised by Madhesi community in Baneshwor on April 4.

Meanwhile, at least four students were injured when police charged a group of students holding a protest programme in front of the Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus. Twenty-five students were also arrested from a programme at Shankerdev Campus at Putalisadak. Students of various Valley campuses, including Tri-Chandra, Shankardev and Pashupati Multiple Campus at Chahabil held protests programmes as part of their support to the general strike. To date the following arrests have been made at each campus: Trichandra (6), ASCOL (6), Balmiki (9), Bishwo Bhasa Campus (3), Patan Multiple Campus (3) and Pasupati Campus Chabail (3).

We are also aware that Gopal Thapaliya, the president of SAFMA Nepal, who was injured during the protest programme, is undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Model Hospital, Bagbazaar. Professor Bhupati Dhakal has also been arrested.

Along with the arrests, it has also been learned that curfews have been imposed in Kathmandu and Lalitpur during the night, that people are barred from entering the Kathmandu area and that the government has restricted all gatherings or assemblies in Kathmandu city. This will of course significantly impact the proposed demonstration and people’s right to freedom of assembly and right to peaceful protest.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below seeking their immediate intervention in this matter.

Suggested letter:

Dear __________,

NEPAL: Nepal police arrest approximately one hundred people ahead of a proposed anti-monarchy protest

I write to condemn the actions of the Nepalese authorities in arresting approximately one hundred people ahead of a planned anti-monarchy protest and four-day general strike by the seven-party opposition alliance. These new arrests, as you will be aware, add to the large number of people arrested in recent months in Nepal.

I am aware that the demonstrators arrested predominantly on 6 April 2006, include political leaders, political activists, lawyers, doctors, journalists, teachers, students and professors.   Many smaller protests have been met with baton wielding policemen. In many of the arrests, the police raided homes with neither warrants for entry nor the arrest itself.

That these persons have been arrested in the first instance is of great concern. That many of those arrested have not been informed of the reason for their arrest by the authorities or committed any offense is truly alarming. The government has banned any form of assembly or demonstration in Kathmandu city and is preventing persons from entering the area. This is a blatant attempt to stifle the legitimate pro-democracy movement in Nepal and is a violation of freedom of assembly and right to peaceful protest.

In light of this, I call on the Nepalese authorities to take immediate steps to release all persons from detention who have been arbitrarily arrested during the April 6 crackdown. Security considerations should not be the basis for denying people their right to assemble peacefully and therefore there is no basis to the arrests made.

Finally, I call on all authorities in Nepal to ensure that the ongoing repression of the democratic movement in the country be ceased unconditionally.

I trust your intervention will be forthcoming.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. His Majesty King Gyanendra
Narayanhity Royal Palace
Durbar Marg
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: 977 14 413577/227577
Fax: 977 14 227395/ 411955

2. Colonel Pankaj Karki
Officer of Royal Nepal Army Human Rights Cell
Human Rights Cell
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Telefax: + 977 14 245 020/226 292

3.  Laxmi Bahadur Nirala
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Ramshahpath, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: +977 14 262548 (direct line)/262394 (through Personal Assistant)
Fax: +977 14 262582
Email: fpattorney@most.gov.np 

4. Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 547 974 or 525 659 or 547 975
Fax: +9771 5 547 973
Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np 

5. Mr. Ian Martin
Chief of Mission
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights- Nepal Office
UN House, Pulchowk
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: (977) 1 5524 366 or 5523 200
Fax: (977) 1 5523 991 or 5523 986
Email: hrinfounit@undp.org 

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the question of torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (general)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org 

7. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
c/o Miguel de la Lama
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention)
Email: mdelalama@ohchr.org 

8. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040, c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: MChingSimon@ohchr.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-117-2006
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.