Nepalese Government's grip on the media remains unrelenting

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) regards the removal of the state of emergency in Nepal as an attempt to hoax the international community into believing that human rights are improving in Nepal.

"While the Nepalese Government appears to be giving lip service to its human rights obligations at the international level, its actions in Nepal are the exact opposite," said IFJ President Christopher Warren.

On 29 April, King Gyanendra lifted the state of emergency which was declared on 1 February and included the suspension of human rights and press freedom. The IFJ had hoped that the Nepalese Government would begin to loosen its grip on the media after agreeing at the UN Human Rights Commission on 20 April to lift media censorship. However it is now clear that the Government is unwilling to restore press freedom as the strict censorship of the media continues.

The Nepalese Government has refused to withdraw a six-month-long notice imposing newspaper censorship issued on 2 February. Newspapers are still banned from publishing any reports which go against "the spirit and letter of the 1 February royal proclamation and supports and encourages the activities of the terrorists directly or indirectly".

"The Nepalese Government must restore press freedom; its stranglehold on the free and independent press is a blatant denial of press rights set out in its constitution."

In addition to the continuing press censorship, the Kathmandu Chief District Officer, Baman Prasad Neupane, issued orders banning political activities at a number of major locations in Kathmandu on 30 April.

According to the Asian Centre for Human Rights, more than 3,000 political activists have been arrested during the state of emergency and a number of journalists are still being held.
[IFEX]

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The Philippines, which prides itself on having the freest media in Southeast Asia, has become the world's "most murderous" country for journalists, an international press group said on Monday.
 
With 18 journalists murdered since 2000, the Philippines is on top of the list of the five "most murderous countries for journalists" worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, said in a report titled "Marked for Death." The report was released on Monday in time for World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday.
 
The other countries on the list, in order of rank, are Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh, and Russia.[International Herald Tribune]

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Cheng Yizhong, former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolis News in China's southern province of Guangdong, was to receive the US$25,000 (euro19,000) award on Tuesday in Dakar, Senegal, the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong reported. Citing an unidentified source, it said he was ordered not to attend the ceremony.[Santa Fe New Mexican]