Reporter to https://www.nepalpress.com/ (an online news portal) Umesh Karki was manhandled by political cadres while reporting in Kathmandu on October 4. Kathmandu is the federal capital of Nepal.
Talking to Freedom Forum on a telephone conversation, reporter Karki shared that he was reporting on the national conference of the All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (Revolutionary), the CPN (Maoist Center) student wing during a press meet at around 4:00 pm. The cadres suddenly started shouting slogans and vandalizing the conference hall after their internal dispute.
"While I was recording the incident, a group of cadres pushed me, seized my mobile and camera, and deleted the footage. They also took pictures of my press id card and threatened me not to publish news against them or bear consequences", he added.
Thereafter, Karki returned back with his reporting before the incident. The reporter has also published short news of the incident on the news portal.
Freedom Forum condemns the intimidation of the journalist while reporting; more concerning is the threat issued to the reporter prior to news publication.
Hence, FF strongly urges the security authority to ensure safety of the journalist to avoid any untoward incident. The political cadres are also urged to apologize for their behavior with the reporter and respect journalists and their right to free reporting in the future.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np