Various organisations representing politics, media, civil society, law and human rights, among other sectors, on Wednesday expressed their serious concerns over the arrest of Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya.

Police arrested him from his office at the KMG headquarters in Thapathali, Kathmandu on Tuesday. The police subsequently took Sirohiya to Dhanusha, where a complaint was filed against him.

Dhanusha District Court on Wednesday remanded Sirohiya to three days in custody.

A group of 31 editors of various media outlets on Wednesday submitted a joint letter to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressing their serious concern over the issue.

In the joint letter, the editors concluded that the government had arrested KMG Chairman Sirohiya with the intent to create pressure and instill fear in the media fraternity.

They said the context and the allegations levelled against Sirohiya and the modus operandi of his arrest have alarmed them.

“We have taken the arrest from inside a media house as intended to create pressure and fear on the press. The government agencies never interrogated Sirohiya about the allegations,” reads the letter to the prime minister by the editors.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nepal Media Society said that the home ministry had shown autocratic tendencies by arresting Sirohiya and that the move was motivated by personal vendetta.

Speaking at a press meet organised at the Central Business Park in Thapathali, Shubhashankar Kandel, president of the Nepal Media Society, said the home ministry was heading towards autocracy.

Kandel cited the case of House of Representatives General Secretary Padma Prasad Pandey, who was found to have held multiple citizenship certificates but had got the citizenship number corrected after the issue came up. He questioned if the government was applying different laws to similar cases from individual to individual.

“There could have been duplication in the citizenship number. Sirohiya was arrested citing the same reason. But General Secretary Pandey wasn’t,” he questioned. “Is the law different for people facing the same accusation in the same country?”

All those guilty should be punished as per the law, even Sirohiya, but he was arrested for vengeance by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, Kandel added.

President of the Reporters Club, Nepal, Rishi Dhamala, said Sirohiya was arrested simply for the news written and published [by the Kantipur daily] on Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in a cooperatives scam.

“The authorities can investigate his citizenship issue. But the way the entire Nepali media fraternity has been attacked with ill intention and for vengeance is unacceptable. We are ready to do whatever it takes [to safeguard the dignity of the media],” Dhamala said.

He added that the home minister was scared after his name was seen in the reports on cooperative scam published by the Kantipur and other media houses.

The Nepal Bar Association has taken serious exception to the arrest stating that an assault on media is an attack on democracy.

"The police force encircled the central office of Kantipur Media Group and arrested Chairman Kailash Sirohiya in a dramatic way," a statement jointly issued by the Association's chair Gopal Krishna Ghimire and General Secretary Anjita Khanal said. "We condemn it and warn [the concerned authorities] not to repeat such acts in future."

Describing media as a foundation of democracy and civilised society, the association termed the arrest of the mediaperson as an attempt to muzzle the media with an intention to force them to serve official interests.

However, Rastriya Swatantra Party, which is headed by Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, has argued that the act of arresting a person with permission from a court wouldn’t violate press freedom. “To say that someone shouldn’t even be touched is feudal cowardice,” a statement issued by the party’s general secretary Mukul Dhakal said.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday called on the government to respect press freedom and freedom of expression.

The constitutional rights watchdog urged the government to make sure that the investigation in Sirohiya’s case is impartial and independent.

In a statement, NHRC spokesperson Tikaram Pokharel said the commission was concerned about reports that Sirohiya’s arrest is linked to the news published continuously by the media over the past few days.

“The commission urges the government to ensure an impartial investigation by protecting the rights guaranteed by international laws and the constitution and to ensure an environment for publishing and broadcasting news in a fearless atmosphere,” said Pokharel.

A team from the commission visited the Kantipur office on Wednesday to learn about the issue.

In the meantime, the Embassy of the United States of America in Kathmandu said it expects the Nepal government and the people to have a meaningful dialogue to ensure good governance, freedom of the press, and people’s fundamental rights.

In a statement, the embassy said freedom of the press, accountability, and transparency are guiding principles for the United States.

The statement comes a day after the arrest of KMG chair Sirohiya.

“Freedom of the press, accountability, and transparency are guiding principles for the United States as we continue to work towards ‘a more perfect union’,” read the statement. “We expect that as Nepal continues to shape its hard-won democracy, the government and people of Nepal will also have a meaningful dialogue about how to ensure good governance, freedom of the press, and people’s fundamental rights.”

Also, some international media organisations have expressed their concern over the government’s approach to the media.

The International Press Institute (IPI) Nepal National Committee said the arrest of Sirohiya from his chamber was of serious concern.

“The timing has raised fears of retaliation as Nepal’s authorities brought the case at a time when the Kantipur Publications has been publishing reports about Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in cooperative funds embezzlement,” General Secretary of IPI Nepal Siromani Dhungana said in a statement. “The circumstances in which Sirohiya was arrested have raised questions on the government's motives and whether the move came in the wake of resorting to vendetta politics aimed at silencing the media house.”

Also, media academics were alarmed by Tuesday’s incident.

A group of Tribhuvan University teachers in a statement on Wednesday said they were concerned about Nepali politicians’ culture of advocating for freedom while in opposition and attacking the media when in power.

“Was the arrest of Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya used as a tool to terrorise independent media? It is the state’s authority to investigate and initiate action [against anyone] with sufficient legal basis,” reads the statement. “However, it cannot be considered natural for Sirohiya to be arrested at a time when Kantipur has been continuously publishing news about cooperative frauds.”

A group of teachers from the journalism department of the university including Badri Paudel, Kundan Aryal, Shreeram Paudel, Jagat Nepal, Rishikesh Dahal, Lekhnath Pandey and Lokendra KC expressed their solidarity with the Kantipur Publications in its fight for the freedom of expression.

Editors’ joint letter to prime minister

Right honourable prime minister

We editors working at major media outlets in Nepal want to draw your attention to a recent case of arrest from a media house:

1. Police arrested Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya from his office on Tuesday. All citizens should equally abide by the laws of the land and Sirohiya should be punished as per the law if he has done anything against it. Sirohiya himself has publicly said that he is ready for that.

2. The context and the allegations levelled against him and the modus operandi of his arrest have raised serious questions. We have taken the arrest from inside a media house as intended to create pressure and fear on the press. The government agencies have never interrogated Sirohiya about the allegations. Yesterday he was suddenly arrested over some technical issues of his citizenship certificate. This issue will now be resolved by the court.

3. Mr Prime Minister, we want to remind you—Rabi Lamichhane was not a Nepali citizen when he first became home minister in your Cabinet. Though he reacquired Nepal’s citizenship following a court order, he was and is someone who can be punished for simultaneously holding passports of two countries.

4. We also want to make it clear why Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has recently been attacking the media with animosity. The problem of cooperative fraud has become severe. Billions of rupees deposited by millions of Nepalis in cooperatives have been misappropriated, and they have not received their own deposits back. Media has continuously reported on around one billion rupees misappropriated by Rabi Lamichhane and Gorkha Media Network, where Lamichhane was one of the partners.

While addressing a Parliament meeting, he claimed that he was a victim of a ‘media trial’. However, investigations conducted at the municipal level and by Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) have established that he and the media company he managed embezzled cooperative funds. The home minister has prevented prosecution and the filing of charges against him by abusing power. We also want to draw the prime minister’s attention to this matter and remind you that it is your responsibility to ensure that the police investigation against Lamichhane moves ahead and builds an environment for prosecuting the case against him impartially.

5. We editors, who have been working in Nepali media for a long time, are well aware of press freedom, rule of law and our responsibilities. And we also want to make it clear that we won’t make any compromise when it comes to defending them and fulfilling our responsibilities.

Akhanda Bhandari, Annapurna Post

Ameet Dhakal, Setopati

Arun Baral, Khabarhub

Basanta Basnet, Onlinekhabar

Bijay Paudel, Kantipur TV

Bimal Gautam, Lokaantar

Biswas Baral, The Kathmandu Post

Durga Khanal, Ekantipur

Gunaraj Luintel, Nagarik

Hari Bahadur Thapa, Baahrakhari

Kamal Dev Bhattarai, The Annapurna Express

Kiran Nepal, Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

Koshraj Koirala, Republica

Kosmos Bishwakarma

Madan Lamsal, Arthik Abhiyan

Prakash Rimal

Prateek Pradhan, Baahrakhari

Purna Basnet, Nepalkhabar

Pushpa Dulal, Clickmandu

Rajaram Gautam

Ram Prasad Dahal, Ratopati

Rameshwar Bohara, Ukaalo

Rupesh Shrestha, Kantipur TV

Sagar Pandit, Nepal Samacharpatra

Sanjeev Satgainya

Saroj Mishra, Rajdhani

Shiva Gaunle, Onlinekhabar

Sudheer Sharma

Sujit Mahat, Ukaalo

Umesh Chauhan, Kantipur

Yubraj Ghimire, Deshsanchar