Cheju Island _ Some 70 senior journalists from 22 nations Wednesday called on the Nepalese government to take immediate steps to restore freedom of speech in the Himalayan country.
``The ongoing government crackdown on the Nepalese media is a cause for great concern for journalists committed to freedom and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region,'' they said in a statement.
They adopted the statement during a forum held on this beautiful island hosted by the Asian Journalists Association (AJA) and headed by the Korea Journalists Association president Lee Sang-ki.
The participants urged the Nepalese government to release the four journalists still under detention and reinstate those who lost their jobs. The participants are mostly from Asian nations and countries like the United States, Russia, Australia, Austria, Germany and South Africa.
They asserted that the repressive measures taken by authorities in Katmandu have dealt a serious blow to press freedom and democratic rights guaranteed under the Nepalese constitution.
Nepalese participant Hemanta Kafle, an editor with Annapurna Post based in Katmandu, took the podium and pointed to the arrest of 160 journalists by the Nepalese government and the layoff of more than 2,000 others.
``When the anti-democratic forces took over state power on Feb. 1, the media turned out to be the first and foremost victim of the shameless autocratic regime,'' he said.
The participants took to the street for an outdoor rally, calling on the Nepalese government to release jailed journalists and ensure freedom of speech.
The AJA forum last year singled out the Philippines as an example of a country where government-level crackdown on local media has taken place and plans to single out a nation every year where such suppression occurred.
The forum, which will run until Nov. 5, also adopted a charter regarding AJA's structure and operations, with participants reelecting Lee as AJA president for another two-year term and naming two vice presidents: Ivan Lim Sin Chin of Singapore, former chairman of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists and Kang Seok-jae who has served as secretary of the organization.
The Korea Times is one of the forum’s sponsors.
