KATHMANDU, April 2: Demonstrations have been organized in Kathmandu demanding the immediate release of Nepali journalist Umakanta Pandey, who is detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Journalists have protested against the arrest of Pandey by the local police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Nepali embassy on December 8 for writing on the social media network Facebook, targeting the embassy about the irregularities in the tourist visa for Nepal.

Former president of the UAE branch of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Bhupraj Basyal, said that the embassy had played an irresponsible role in the arrest of Pandey just for writing critical remarks about the embassy in the social media.

Claiming that they had received evidence showing the role of embassy officials in getting Pandey detained in a foreign land, he also demanded that action be taken against all those involved in it.

General Secretary of UNMI Nepal, an international organization of media persons, Jeevan Bhandari said that it was a matter of fear for all migrants around the world that the Embassy, assigned to assist Nepali nationals in foreign lands, is involved in the arbitrary arrest of its own citizens.

A court in the UAE has announced a penalty of around Rs 650,000 Nepali rupees on Pandey along with confiscation of all his assets and deportation. 

The protest and demonstration was organized to put pressure on the Nepali Embassy in the UAE and the government of Nepal to act for the safe release of Pandey, said central member of the Youth Congress and coordinator of the protest Kiran Khanal. He said that the sentence given to a Nepali journalist by the UAE court on the basis of his social media status while living in Nepal was against the universal recognition of freedom of expression and outright violation of freedom of expression.

(RSS)

 
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