Nepal

September 15, 2011

Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai

c/o Embassy of Nepal
2131 Leroy Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008

Via facsimile: 202-667-5534

Dear Prime Minister Bhattarai:

We are alarmed by recent reports regarding the planned amnesty of criminal cases pending from past political violence in Nepal and are writing to express our concern that people convicted of killing journalists could go free based on political decisions made by your government.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the life imprisonment of the two men who murdered journalist Birendra Shah. CPJ also calls for the arrest of three local Maoists accused of masterminding the 2007 killing.

CPJ’s 2011 Impunity Index spotlights countries
where journalists are slain and killers go free

Partisan Journalism and the Cycle of Repression

by Bob Dietz and Shawn W. Crispin

Lal Wickramatunga's family and publishing house, Leader Publications, have paid dearly in Sri Lanka's highly charged political climate. While Leader's newspapers, including the weekly Sunday Leader, are widely known for tough, independent reporting, they have been caught up in a partisan media environment, one filled with violence and censorship. Wickramatunga's brother has been murdered, his company has been sued, and his journalists face intimidation.

Nepal's new Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal should be setting a new tone. Law and order--and with it, journalists' security--have suffered in the seven months since Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned and has been filling in as interim leader. Khanal could be making public commitments to reversing the atmosphere of impunity that is promoting media attacks. Instead, he is struggling to form a new government amid challenges to his tenuous hold on power.