Editor-In-Chief at https://www.himalpost.com/ Motiram Khanal received numerous death threats for publishing news on the online portal. The incident took place in the federal capital Kathmandu.
Talking to Freedom Forum, Khanal shared that a news about Mayor of Bagmati Municipality at Salahi district, Bharat Kumar Thapa was published on the online portal on August 11, 2022 along with his quoes. Thereafter, Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa called editor Khanal in the evening and talked to him about the news in good manner.
"Again, on August 12 a person calling himself brother of Thapa called me and asked to meet him. During the meeting, the person along with his goons threatened me to edit the news and share details ot the news source", Khanal said, adding,"I told them to go to Press Council Nepal, if they had any problem and file case over the news but in vain."
"Since then, they have been calling from different numbers and threatening me with abusive words. I have informed fellow journalists about the case and am planning to go to police station for safety", Khanal informed.
Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to journalist for publishing news. It is a gross violation of press freedom. Harassing a journalist despite availability of legitimate way to take action for any dissatisfaction over the news published is deplorable.
Hence, FF strongly urges the security authority to address the issue and ensure safety of journalist to avoid any untoward incident.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
montoring@freedomforum.org.np