The International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ) is alarmed to learn of death threats made to a Nepali journalist through
email, after he published a story in a local daily on a war-time atrocity of
2003, in which soldiers of the Nepal army are believed to have killed some
nineteen individuals on suspicion of involvement with the Maoist insurgency.
According to information received
from the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), an IFJ affiliate, Kathmandu-based
Ganesh Pandey received threats by email over a period of five days, from a
person who identified himself as Gyanbhi Gurung. This was after a story
appeared under Pandey’s byline in the Samacharpatra daily on August 20, in which the need for accountability for the war-time
atrocity, known locally as the Doramba incident, was underlined.
The FNJ has condemned these
threats which have been recurring in Nepal, despite the institution of a number
of options for grievance redressal over published and broadcast media content.
The IFJ endorses the FNJ demand that
the government take strong action against the person behind this series of
threats and address itself to the task of reassuring Pandey about his security.
For
further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0918
The IFJ
represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries
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