NEPAL: Two recent incidents involving threats to a Teachers’ Union leader and the re-arrest of citizens despite Supreme Court release orders 

UA-99-2005: NEPAL: Two recent incidents involving threats to a Teachers’ Union leader and the re-arrest of citizens despite Supreme Court release orders

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHFC) has received information from a reliable source regarding two separate incidents of human rights abuse in Nepal. The first incident relates to threats being made by Maoists against Headmaster and President of the Nepal Teachers’ Union Kaski Branch, Mr. Dipak Poudel. Mr. Poudel has been threatened with physical harm if he does not resign from his Union post. It is alleged that Mr. Poudel has been placed on a ‘death list’ by Maoist groups. In the second incident, two men, Mr. Karma Bahadur Magar and Mr. Bablu Tamang, were immediately re-arrested by security forces, despite Supreme Court orders granting their release.

In light of these incidents, we ask you to intervene immediately. In the first incident, please ask relevant authorities to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of Mr. Poudel. Mr. Poudel must be free to carry out his duties without fear of physical harm or the possibility of death. In the second incident, both men must be released as soon as possible and not be detained again. A full investigation must be conducted into why their re-arrests occurred and who authorised this action. The general re-arrest of civilians in Nepal, despite Supreme Court release orders, must be stopped immediately.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Incident one
Name of victim: Mr. Dipak Poudel, 50, the headmaster of Bharatibhawan Secondary School and the president of Nepal Teachers’ Union, Kaski Branch
Perpetrators: Maoists

On 18 May 2005, the Maoists issued an open letter to Mr. Dipak Poudel threatening him to resign from his post as president of the Nepal Teachers Union, Kaski Branch. In the letter they provided several reasons as to why Mr. Poudel must step down immediately.

As a district level leader and activist of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Mr. Poudel has been working with the teachers’ union for the past seven years and has in recent times been increasingly exposed to physical threats. Despite these threats and the letter of May 18, Mr. Poudel refuses to resign. He maintains that he has done no wrong and committed no mistakes in his role within the union. He adamantly opposes the Maoists’ actions, which he says are the direct result of his school refusing to provide donations to their cause.

There has been a gradual growth of killings by Maoists against local citizens in recent days. Earlier, Maoists killed Cheetra Bahadur K.C., the Kaski district president of Rastryiya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Ganesh Man Palikhe, Campus Chief of Janpriya Multiple Campus.  According to some locals, the Maoists have prepared a list of some six people to be killed. Among them, Mr. Poudel has been listed.

Incident two
Victims: Mr. Karna Bahadur Magar, 35, resident of Danda Kharka Village Development Committee (VDC)-2, Dolkha District and Mr. Bablue Tamang of Chandol, Kathmandu Metropolis-4
Perpetrators: Nepalese security forces

On 1 June 2005, the Supreme Court issued a release order for Mr. Karna Bahadur Magar, stating that his prior detention was illegal. However, when Mr. Magar was presented to the court on June 8, having yet to be released, he was arrested once again before even leaving the court premises. At the time of the re-arrest, security forces also charged other persons who tried to intervene on behalf of Mr. Magar, including Mr. Bal Krishna Poudel, 35, of Dandabari VDC-1, a relative of Mr. Magar.

Separately, Mr. Bablu Tamang was re-arrested on the court premises on 2 June 2005. The Supreme Court issued an order for his release on 26 May finding his arrest to be illegal. He was finally brought to the district court on June 2, in defiance of the Supreme Court order. However, Mr. Tamang was re-arrested before he left the court on that same day.

The re-arrests of Mr. Magar and Mr. Tamang exemplify the all too frequent defiance by the security forces of court orders for the release of citizens. To view similar cases that the AHRC has reported on previously, please click on the following: UA-127-2004, UA-95-2004, UA-86-2004, UP-38-2004, UA-74-2004, UA-51-2004.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the following relevant authorities voicing your serious concern regarding these incidents.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER