Request to Refrain from Attempts to Curtail Freedom of the Press and Expression

  May 22, 2024 By: INSEC

INSEC issued a press release on the evening of May 21 against the arrest of Kailash Sirohiya, the Chairperson and Publisher of Kantipur Daily, condemning the action and urging authorities to refrain from undermining press freedom and freedom of expression.

In a press release signed by Dr. Kundan Aryal, the Chairperson of INSEC, the organization stated that arresting Sirohiya from his workplace at Kantipur Daily in Thapathali and taking him to Janakpur overnight by road appears to be a deliberate attempt to intimidate the media and prevent it from operating fearlessly.

 In addition, ‘even though Sirohiya was said to be arrested for an investigation regarding citizenship, the publisher of the prestigious media group has been arrested without any prior investigation and at a time when the Kantipur Media Group had been serially publishing and broadcasting critical material regarding the controversial involvement of the Home Minister with the cooperatives. In the context of the various periods of Nepali history where attempts have been made to engage in authoritarian practices under the guise of democracy, INSEC suspects that the arrest of Sirohiya was based on retaliation and not because of citizenship-related charges against him.