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UN Urges Better Protection for Media After Attack on Nepali Publishing House

The United Nations has condemned yesterday's attack against staff at the Himal Media publishing house in Kathmandu as an assault on the freedom of expression, and urged authorities in Nepal to ensure a safe environment for media professionals to do their work.

Staff from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) and investigators from the National Human Rights Commission have followed up on the incident, in which dozens of people entered the Himal Media office on Sunday looking for the author of a recently-published article.

They then physically assaulted a number of individuals, including Publisher Kunda Dixit and Chief Executive Officer Ashutosh Tiwari, in what is the latest in a series of attacks against the media in the South Asian nation.

"OHCHR-Nepal encourages the Nepal Police, which investigated Sunday's incident, to complete its investigation as swiftly as possible so charges can be laid," the office said in a news release.

"It also urges State authorities to take all steps necessary to ensure that the media has a secure environment in which to do its work," it added.

Previously, on 20 October, several people reportedly raided the office of the local Terai Times newspaper in Janakpur, where they assaulted staff and damaged and stole equipment.

That incident followed the publication of a news article suggesting that the Young Communist
League (YCL) was providing protection for prostitution.

In another incident, a journalist from a daily newspaper in Nepalgunj informed OHCHR that he had been verbally abused and threatened on 21 October by a local government official of
Banke district, following publication of an article that alleged financial irregularities linked to a local construction project.
Source: United Nations