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NEPAL: Bhutanese human rights activist has been arrested and detained without any proof of murder

November 16, 2001

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION <br>
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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM <br>
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15 November 2001 <br>
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UA-39-2001: Bhutanese human rights activist has been arrested and detained without any proof of murder <br>
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NEPAL: Innocent arrest and detention without any criminal evidence <br>
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We have learned that Mr. S. K. Pradhan, secretary-general of the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHRD) based in Nepal, one of the human rights organisations with general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, was arrested on Sept. 19, 2001, and detained in Chandragari Prison in eastern Nepal by the Nepalese authorities. He has been charged with being involved in the murder of Mr. R. K. Budhathoki, chairman of the Bhutan Peoples’ Party (BPP). This murder took place on Sept. 9, 2001, while Budhathoki was holding a meeting with several refugee students in the office of the Youth Organisation of Bhutan (YOB), BPP’s youth wing, in Namak, Jhapa. <br>
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However, the Nepalese police authorities arrested and detained him on the basis of written complaints made by Mr. Balaram, general secretary of the BPP, without any concrete proof. In addition, at the time of the murder, Mr. Pradhan was in Kathmandu, Nepal, which is more than 500 kilometers from Damak. He had just returned from attending the U.N. World Conference on Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa, which ended on Sept. 7, 2001. <br>
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THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS INCIDENT <br>
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Mr. Pradhan was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. at his home in the Kuleshwor district of Kathmandu on Sept. 19, 2001, by about half a dozen plainclothes policemen without producing any arrest warrant. He was then taken to the Hanuma district police station in the Dhoka area of Kathmandu and detained for 18 hours. The next day the police airlifted him to Chandragadi in Jhapa with escorts from the area police station in Damak, Jhapa. <br>
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After 25 days of continued detention in the district police station in Chandragadi, Mr. Pradhan was produced in the District Court for the first hearing of his case on Oct. 16, 2001. The advocates, Mr. Agni Kharel and Dinesh Tripati, strongly sought Mr. Pradhan’s release on bail, but unfortunately, his release on bail was rejected because he is a refugee and not a Nepalese citizen. The Nepalese Civil Code does not allow bail to foreigners, including refugees. Thus, Mr. Pradhan is in judicial custody after the verdict of the District Court. Mr. Pradhan has completely denied any complicity and has protested his innocence from the very beginning of this ordeal. Therefore, the continuous detention of Mr. Pradhan without any evidence of his involvement in a crime is a serious breach of internationally recognised human rights laws, principles and standards. <br>
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION <br>
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Mr. S. K. Pradhan, an undersecretary in the Bhutanese Civil Service Commission, resigned from his post to protest against the gross violation of human rights in Bhutan. He has been actively and closely associated with the movement for human rights and democracy in Bhutan for the last decade. He was the first Bhutanese leader to set foot in the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva, Switzerland, during its 49th session in 1993 to raise the voice for the voiceless Bhutanese people and refugees. Since then, he has been relentlessly amplifying the cause of refugees, not only at the UNCHR and Subcommission, but also at almost all U.N. forums and world conferences, including the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria, in 1993, the Hague Appeal for Peace in The Hague in 1999, the Millennium NGO Forum in New York in 2000 and the recent U.N. World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. The accreditation of PFHRD to the WCAR was strongly challenged by the Royal Government of Bhutan. Finally, PFHRD won accreditation through a roll call vote by the member states of the United Nations on May 22, 2001, during the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee held in Geneva. Because all of these developments are not recognised by the Royal Government of Bhutan, Mr. Pradhan has consequently become the most wanted man in the eyes of the Bhutanese authorities. <br>
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ACTION REQUESTED <br>
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Please write urgently to the prime minister and foreign minister, the home minister, the chief justice and the inspector general of police of Nepal as well as the resident representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kathmandu demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Pradhan. <br>
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SAMPLE LETTER <br>
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I have learned that Mr. S. K. Pradhan, secretary-general of the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHRD) based in Nepal, was arrested on Sept. 19, 2001, and detained in Chandragari Prison by the Nepalese authorities. I was also informed that he has been charged with involvement in the murder of Mr. R. K. Budhathoki, chairman of the Bhutan Peoples’ Party (BPP), which took place on Sept. 9, 2001. <br>
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However, the Nepalese police authorities arrested him on the basis of written statements made by a member of the victim’s political party. Moreover, they did not present any concrete evidence of his involvement. Obviously, this arrest and detention is a violation of Mr. Pradhan’s human rights and the rights of refugees in general as well as being illegal. Furthermore, I am seriously concerned that, since he is a refugee and the most wanted man by the government of Bhutan, he would be a target of intolerance, xenophobia and an innocent victim of political interests in both Bhutan and Nepal. <br>
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I highly respect his activities to promote human rights, democracy and the rights of refugees in his native country of Bhutan and in Nepal. I strongly believe that he is innocent. The reputation of Nepal will be blemished until he is released. I therefore strongly urge you to release him immediately and unconditionally. <br>
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Sincerely yours, <br>
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SEND LETTERS TO: <br>
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1. Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba <br>
The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal <br>
Office of the Prime Minister <br>
Singha Durbar <br>
Kathmandu, Nepal <br>
Tel: +977 1 227955 or 1 228555 <br>
Fax: +977 1 227786 <br>
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister <br>
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2. Mr. Khum Bahadur Khadka <br>
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs <br>
Ministry of Home Affairs <br>
Singha Durbar <br>
Kathmandu, Nepal <br>
Tel: +977 1 224737 <br>
Fax: +977 1 227186 or 1 227187 <br>
Salutation: Dear Minister <br>
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3. Mr. Keshav Prasad Upadhaya <br>
The Chief Justice <br>
Tel: +977 1 262546 <br>
Fax: +977 1 262878 <br>
Salutation: Dear Chief Justice <br>
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4. Mr. Pradip Shamsher Rana <br>
The Inspector General of Police <br>
Police Headquarters <br>
GPO Box 407 <br>
Naxal <br>
Kathmandu, Nepal <br>
Tel: +977 1 414985 <br>
Fax: +977 1 41 55 93 or 1 415594 <br>
Salutation: Dear Inspector General <br>
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5. The Resident Representative of UNHCR Kathmandu <br>
Tel: +977 1 419355 <br>
Fax: +977 1 412853 or 1 414989 <br>
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We also inform you of the phone number where Mr. Pradhan is kept under judicial custody - +977 023 20017. <br>
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Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-39-2001
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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.