Photo: Reporter Rakesh Sah in quarantine (Source: Facebook)
Correspondent at Mithilanchal FM Rakesh Sah was threatened for reporting from quarantine in Dhanusha on August 25. Dhanusha lies in Province 2 of Nepal.
Reporter Sah was diagnosed positive for COVID 19 on August 18, since then, he has been staying in quarantine established by Province Governement in the local municipality.
According to FF's representative Rajan Singh, reporter Sah has been making aware the people on poor management in the quarantine through facebook live and his social media page. He has made public the poor quality of food served to the infected ones and negligence of media persons in monitoring health status of people staying in quarantine.
Following this, security officers on duty in the quarantine threatened him to stay quiet or else they would take action against him, informed representative Singh.
Threatening and silencing journalists who perform their job is sheer violation of press freedom and right to freedom of expression. FF condemns such behavior of security officials. While journalists are always reporting from the frontline even during this pandemic to disclose irregularities, intimidating those working even after being infected is intolerable. Hence, FF urges the authority to cooperate with those ensuring fair reporting atmosphere and citizen's right to information.
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