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UPDATE (NEPAL): A free and fair trial of Mr. Pradhan should be guaranteed

July 23, 2002

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

24 July 2002
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UP-49-2002 (RE: UA-39-2001: Bhutanese human rights activist has been arrested and detained without any proof of murder)

UPDATE (NEPAL): A free and fair trial of Mr. Pradhan should be guaranteed
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Dear Friends,

Regarding our previous appeal (UA-39-2001) about the arrest and trial of Mr. S. K. Pradhan, secretary-general of the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD), we are forwarding you the following letter from Jiwan Pradhan, secretary of PFHRD in order to keep your attention and support.

Jiwan Pradhan is requesting you to express your concern about his trial to Nepalese authorities. Please take your action for release of Mr. Pradhan.

If you need more information on this case, please visit our website; http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2001/177/ and http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2002/214/

Thank you for your action.


Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission

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Dear Sir/Madam/friends,

Greetings from PFHRD, Bhutan. Sorry, I was out of Kathmandu for about a month.

On July 2002 I went to meet Mr. S. K. Pradhan at Jhapa district prison. Mr.Pradhan is fine physically, mentally and spiritually. This Mr. Pradhan said is due to the tremendous support and solidarity extended to him by the international community. Mr.Pradhan has requested me to convey his heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all known and unknown friends, well wishers and sympathizers who have stood by him at this great hour of crisis. He sends his prayers and best wishes to all of them.

Mr. D.B.Bhandari, PFHRD Coordinator for refugees who has been actively involved in the campaign for Mr.Pradhan's release at the grass root level has informed me that all the court formalities have now been completed. The final report on the absconding people was submitted by the Government Attorney, Mr.Ganesh Babu Aryal to the Court on 27 June 2002. For unknown reasons, Mr. Aryal has kept the report received from the Damak police on absconders pending for about ten days.

Now, we expect that the trial of Mr. Pradhan and others accused in the case will begin. The date of trial, however, has not yet been fixed. We would request that direct telephone contact may be made with the Honorable Judges at the court firstly, to confirm the date and secondly, to express concerns on Mr.Pradhan's behalf for a speedy, just, free and fair trial as Mr.Pradhan is innocent. That, Mr. Pradhan's right to speech at the court should be respected i.e. He should be given time and permission to speak in his defense.

The telephone number of Jhapa District Court is 00977 023 20030 (Chief Judge, Honorable Mr.Bhola Kharel, Justices Honorable, Shiva Prasad Parajuli and Bal Krishna Upreti). Please also express your concerns to Mr. Ganesh Babu Aryal, Government Attorney and Mr. Parameshwor Parajuli, Deputy Government Attorney at telephone number 00977 023 20174.

You can also express your concerns in writing to the Honorable Judges. The sample letter is given below. As the court does not have email or fax facilities, you can use the fax of Chief District Officer (CDO), Jhapa or Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU, Jhapa). Their fax numbers are given below.


Sample letter

Honorable Justices
Jhapa District Court
Bhadrapur, Nepal
Tel No: 977 023 20030
Fax No: c/o Chief District Officer (CDO) 00 977 023
20088 or Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU) 00 977 023
20337

Subject: Free and fair trial of Mr. S. K. Pradhan, Bhutanese Human Rights Defender

Your Honors,

Greetings. We are deeply concerned at the prolonged detention of Mr. S. K. Pradhan, Bhutanese human rights leader and Secretary General of Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD) Bhutan at District prison, Jhapa. We have known Mr. Pradhan for a long time as a front-runner Bhutanese human rights activist and are impressed by his dedication to the cause of democracy, human rights and repatriation of Bhutanese refugees.

There are firm reasons to believe that he is innocent and is neither involved nor connected with R. K. Budathoki murder. He has been falsely implicated in the case by those who are opposed to him, may be because of his increasing international reputation and fame. The indirect role and influence of the Bhutanese Government to see him in prison cannot be ruled out, as Mr. Pradhan is one of the most ardent critic and opponent of the Bhutanese Government at UN and international forums.

We understand that his trial is going to take place soon. We would like to request Your Honors to give a free and fair hearing to Mr. Pradhan. His right to speech and defense should be granted and protected. As his trial proceeds, we would monitor it and would try to send our observers to ensure justice is done to him.

With warm regards,

Yours sincerely

Copy to:
His Excellency Mr.Sher Bahadur Deuba
Prime Minister of Nepal
SinghaDurbar, Kathmandu
Tel: 977 1 227955 or 228555
Fax: 977 1 227786

His Excellency Mr.Keshav Prasad Upadhaya
Hon'ble Chief Justice of Supreme Court
Kathmandu Nepal
Tel: 977 1 262546
Fax: 977 1 262878

Mr.Pashupati Karmacharya
Chief District Officer (CDO)
Jhapa, Nepal
Tel: 00 977 023 20166 / 21066
Fax: 00 977 023 20088

Mr. John Andrew
UNHCR Field Director, Badrapur Jhapa
Tel: 00 977 023 20776, 20642
Fax: 00 977 023 20774

Mr. Ganesh Babu Aryal
District Government Attorney
Jhapa, Nepal
Tel: 00977 023 20174

(UNHCR office at Badrapur is located near the Jhapa District Court. In case you are not able to send the fax to CDO or RCU, you can fax it to C/O UNHCR. They should be able to hand over it to the court. Thanks.)

Lastly, it would be a great moral support if the trial of Mr.Pradhan is observed by the international community to ensure injustice is not done to
Mr.Pradhan and that he is given a free and fair hearing. Please see if international observers could be fielded.

With my warm wishes

Jiwan Pradhan,
Secretary, PFHRD Bhutan
GPO: 8975 EPC: 5028, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 977 1 273768, Fax: 977 1 220161
Email: jiwankp@yahoo.com / skpfhrd@mos.com.np

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-49-2002
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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.