A youth was arrested in Surkhet, Karnali Province for his Facebook post critical to the administrative authority on August 29.
FF's representative Laxmi Bhandari reported that Rajan Chalise had written status on his Facebook against Chief District Officer Hira Lal Regmi's move to release the prohibitory order amid a growing number of infected cases in the district.
After twelve days of prohibitory order, the local administration had decided to release the order. Bhandari quoted local Police chief Ram Prasad Gharti as saying, they had arrested Chalise for abusing Officer Regmi through his post and the case is under investigation.
Chalise has been kept in detention and charged under public offense, as per police source.
Freedom Forum is concerned over the arrest of a citizen for his social media post. It is a sheer violation of freedom of expression and misuse of authoritative power. FF urges the administrative authority not to take criticism as a crime and demands immediate release of Chalise as the right to freedom of expression and speech are constitutionally guaranteed.
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Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforu.org.np