Reporter killed in Nepal

2004-08-17 10:38

Kathmandu - Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow Nepal's monarchy kidnapped and killed a reporter for state-run radio who was accused of supporting the government, a press group said on Tuesday.

The rebels distributed leaflets in Radio Nepal journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa's hometown in the mountainous western Dailekh district announcing he had been "convicted" of spying, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists said.

Thapa had served as master of ceremonies during a civic reception for King Gyanendra in April in the south-western city of Nepalgunj. He also was an adviser to the Human Rights and Peace Society, a private Nepalese rights group.

"The Maoists should stop such barbaric killings of journalists in Nepal and permit them to function independently," said the journalist federation's vice president, Gopal Budhathoki.

Thapa is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.

International rights groups accuse both security forces and the Maoists of intimidating and at times detaining journalists in the course of Nepal's civil war, which has claimed nearly 10 000 lives since 1996.

In one of the most grisly incidents, suspected Maoists last September dragged Gyanendra Khadka, a journalist with the state-run RSS news agency, out of a school in eastern Nepal where he taught part-time, tied him to a pole and slit his throat with a traditional curved khukuri knife. - AFP

- SAPA