All Arrested Journalists Released, Says Communications Minister; Major Political Parties Unite Against Arrests

Kathmandu / Oct. 30: Information and Communications Minister Dr. Bikram Timilsina has announced that all journalists arrested on Friday have been released. The minister confirmed their release in a Facebook post on Friday evening.

“All arrested journalists have been released,” Minister Timilsina wrote. “The government is fully committed to press freedom. Press freedom and responsible journalism are the pillars of democracy.”

Earlier on Friday, police entered the newsrooms of several media outlets and detained journalists. Those arrested included Bishwamani Subedi of Nepalpress, Dhiraj Basnet of DN Khabar, and Shobharaj Baral of Motivate News.

Police personnel in plain clothes also entered the office of Naya Patrika to detain journalist Navaraj Mainali. They remained at the office for more than two hours, insisting that they would not leave without taking him into custody.

The police team eventually left the Naya Patrika office on Friday evening after instructing journalist Mainali and editor Khagendra Pant to appear before the Cyber Bureau on Saturday.

Major Political Parties Unite Against Journalists’ Arrests

The arrests of journalists from their newsrooms drew strong criticism from major political parties, including the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).

RSP spokesperson Jagadish Kharel said arresting journalists over their reporting or harassing them under the pretext of questioning violated the constitutional guarantees of press freedom and freedom of expression.

“Our party’s policy and principles do not support arresting journalists on the basis of their reporting under any pretext,” Kharel told Onlinekhabar. “The party firmly upholds the press freedom and freedom of expression guaranteed as fundamental rights by Nepal’s Constitution.”

The RSP is the country’s largest political party.

Nepali Congress General Secretary Pradip Paudel, representing the country’s second-largest party, urged the government to immediately stop interference in and surveillance of media organisations.

“Deploying police to arrest journalists simply for gathering news and publishing information is the height of authoritarianism,” Paudel wrote on Facebook. “It is the constitutional duty of the press to keep citizens informed by investigating the activities of public officials, judicial integrity and abuses of power.”

CPN-UML General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel, whose party is the country’s third-largest, described the arrest of citizens without warrants as an authoritarian practice.

“Arresting people without warrants is an authoritarian practice intended to spread fear among citizens,” Pokhrel wrote. “Attempting to control all branches of the state by keeping them under intimidation, contrary to the principle of separation of powers, is a clear sign of fascism.”

Yubaraj Dulal, chief whip of the parliamentary party of the Nepali Communist Party, the country’s fourth-largest political force, condemned the police raids on newspaper offices by officers in plain clothes, describing them as state-sponsored intimidation against independent journalism.

“There is no doubt among Nepali citizens that this state-sponsored intimidation has been created because journalists exposed the misconduct of senior officials in the government and other state agencies,” Dulal said.

He added that his party demanded the unconditional release of the detained journalists and called on the government to end intimidation and interference against media organisations.

On Friday, police entered newsrooms and detained journalists Bishwamani Subedi, Shobharaj Baral and Dhiraj Basnet. A separate police team also visited the Naya Patrika office in search of another journalist, triggering widespread criticism from political parties over the arrests and their implications for press freedom.