Nepal: Massive arbitrary arrests

Case NPL 310106

Massive arbitrary arrests / Ill-treatments

Geneva, January 31, 2006

The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Nepal.

Brief description of the situation:

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a member of the OMCT network, about numerous reports of violent repression of demonstrations, mass arrests, beatings, and ill-treatment in detention against political leaders, journalists and human rights defenders since January 17, 2006.

According to the information received, on January 17, 2006, the Nepalese Government imposed a curfew from 9:00 pm to 4:00 am, at night, and a total ban on demonstrations, rallies and sit-in programs in Kathmandu and Lalitpur Districts. Similar curfews and prohibitive orders were imposed throughout the country in the name of maintaining security in the country.

The curfew and prohibitive orders were allegedly aimed at disrupting the planned peaceful protest organised by a seven-party political opposition alliance on January 20, 2006 in Kathmandu, calling for the establishment of democracy and the end of Nepal’s autocratic regime, and protesting against the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for February 8, 2006.

From January 19, 2006 till January 20, 2006, the Armed Police Forces (APF) and plainclothes security forces arrested nearly 100 leaders of political parties and human rights activists from their houses. Searches of their houses were also carried out.

On January 20, 2006, the curfew was imposed from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. Then onwards curfew was imposed for about five days from 11:00 pm to 4:00 am in Kathmandu. It was lifted on January 23, 2006.

Following the disruption of the large-scale demonstrations that had been planned on January 20, 2006, thousands of protestors reportedly took the streets of Kathmandu on January 21, 2006. Subsequently, the police intervened to break up the demonstration and dozens of demonstrators were injured along with some policemen in the clash that ensued. Dozens of leaders and activists, thought to number over 200, were reportedly arrested. The police charged the demonstrators using batons and fired tear-gas shells to disperse the crowd in the New Road and Basantapur areas. The Armed Police Force and the Royal Nepalese Army were also deployed. Journalists who were attempting to collect information and monitor the demonstration were manhandled by security personnel.

According to INSEC, 1,243 people were arrested between January 19, 2006 and January 25, 2006 and, as of January 26, 2006, 848 remained detained, 393 were released and 2 were under house arrest. Among other, the persons arrested were mainly from the Nepali Congress (142), the Nepali Congress (Democratic) (85), UML (162), Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-ML) (6), the Nepal People Front (42), the Nepal Worker and Peasant Party (3), All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) (80), the Nepal Student Union (61), the Nepal Student Union (Democratic) (6) and General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) (3). Nine journalists were also arrested.

Some of those arrested were given detention order for 90 days under the Public Security Act. Family members were only allowed to visit twice in a week during office hours. However, friends and distant family members were not allowed to visit them. The detainees would be provided low quality of food and sanitation.

On January 26, 2006, over two hundred political activists were again arrested during demonstrations during a nationwide general strike that had been called by the democratic alliance in Nepal. During the protests, the security forces used excessive force against the peaceful demonstrators that injured dozens of people.

The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by the continuous violations of human rights and individual liberties in Nepal, in particular as regards the denial of the freedoms of expression and opinion, both guaranteed by international human rights instruments and in particular by article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ratified by Nepal in May 1991.

The list of persons arrested is available at the International Secretariat upon request.

Action requested:

Please write to the authorities in Nepal urgent them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all persons arrested;

ii. order the immediate release of all persons arrested in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, ensure that they are given a prompt and fair trial, in which their procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;

iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the arrest of the above-mentioned persons, to identify those responsible, to bring them to justice and to apply the civil, penal and/or administrative sanctions provided for by law;

iv. ensure the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Addresses:

• His Majesty King Gyanendra, Narayanhity Royal Palace, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: + 997 1 4 227 395 / 411 955
  
  
• Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Pulchowck, Lalitpur, Nepal; Fax: + 997 1 5 547 973, Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np
  
  
• Lieutenant Colonel Pankaj Karki, Royal Nepal Army, Human Rights Cell, Royal Nepalese Army Headquarters, Bhadrakali, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: + 977 14 245 020 / 226 292, Email: humanrights@rna.mil.np
  
  
• Laxmi Bahadur Nirala, Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Ramshahpath, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: +977 14 262582, Email: fpattorney@most.gov.np
  
  
• Ambassador Gyan Chandra Acharya, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Nepal to the United Nations in Geneva, rue de la Servette 81, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 27 22, Email: mission.nepal@bluewin.ch

Please also write to the embassies of Nepal in your respective country.

***
Geneva, January 31, 2006

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.