Amnesty International Report 2000 - Nepal

Head of state: King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev
Head of government: Krishna Prasad Bhattarai (replaced Girija Prasad Koirala in May)
Capital: Kathmandu
Population: 21.4 million
Official language: Nepali
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes

The political situation turned a corner in May when elections resulted in the establishment of a majority government. While this brought a degree of political stability, there was no parallel improvement in the human rights situation. The new government of Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai largely failed to address allegations of widespread extrajudicial executions and torture and an emerging pattern of "disappearances " in the context of the "people's war" declared by the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist) in early 1996. There were worrying signs that the government was pursuing a hardline approach, particularly after it put before Parliament a bill increasing the powers of the police to arrest and detain suspects and to shoot on sight anyone who "engages in any violent or subversive act", and granting further judicial powers to district administrators rather than the courts. The establishment of the National Human Rights Commission remained stalled despite widespread protests by local human rights organizations.

Possible extrajudicial executions

At least 300 people were reported to have been killed by police in 1999. The police invariably claimed that the killings occurred during exchanges of fire with members of the CPN (Maoist). However, there was evidence that in many cases police officers had used lethal force in situations where such force was unjustified. These included cases where people had been deliberately killed after they were taken prisoner, and others where they had been killed as an alternative to their arrest.

• There were various contradictory accounts of the circumstances in which seven young people, including young girls, died at Anekot VDC, Ward No. 1, Kabrepalanchok district, on 19 March. Some newspapers reported that they had died when a bomb which they had tried to hurl at police hit a wall and exploded among them. Others alleged that the police set fire to the house in which the seven people were staying, and shot them one by one as they came out of the house. Fourteen-year-old Manju Kunwor and 15-year-old Shuvadra Sapkota were among the five girls said to have been members of the Cultural Wing of the CPN (Maoist) gathered at the house. No independent investigation was held into the incident.

An emerging pattern of 'disappearances'

A very disturbing pattern of "disappearances" and long-term unacknowledged detention emerged during 1999. There was evidence that police used secret places of detention and vehicles without numberplates. The total number of "disappearances" reported to have occurred during 1999 was 18. Further reports of "disappearances" which occurred during 1998 were received, bringing the total number of such reports for both years to 44.

• Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, a schoolteacher and member of a human rights organization, was arrested on 2 September at Satumangal, Kathmandu. Witnesses saw six men in civilian clothes, believed to be police officers, force him into a jeep with black tinted windows. There were unconfirmed reports that he was held at the Maharajgunj Police Training Centre, an unofficial place of detention. Despite action in the Supreme Court, his whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year.

Torture and death in custody

Torture of political and criminal detainees to extract confessions or intimidate suspects continued to be reported on a regular basis. Many of those arrested in the context of the "people's war" complained of torture. Methods of torture frequently reported included beatings on the soles of the feet and rolling a weighted stick or other object over the thighs of the prisoner (belana).

• A woman arrested in November in Ilam district reported that she was hung upside down and beaten on the soles of her feet; subjected to belana ; had pins inserted under the nails of two toes; and had electric current applied to her chest.
• Suk Bahadur Lama, a 21-year-old man from Dolakha district, died as a result of torture inflicted for six successive days at the area police office, Nawalpur, Nawalparasi district, in August. A post-mortem found he had multiple burn injuries on both feet, cauterized abrasions on his upper back, and bruises on his back and sides as well as on both his thighs, calves and the soles of the feet. Eight police officers were arrested and charged with his murder. They were released on bail, pending the start of their trial. A case filed under the Torture Compensation Act was withdrawn after police allegedly bribed his family.

Arbitrary arrest and detention

Several hundred people were arrested on suspicion of being members of or sympathetic to the CPN (Maoist) or its front organizations. The total number of political prisoners in custody in mid-November was 1,560. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued its visits to political detainees throughout the year, with access to 42 prisons.

There was widespread abuse of the Public Security Act (PSA) to curtail freedom of expression and imprison government opponents. Scores of political activists suspected of being members of or sympathetic to the CPN (Maoist) or its front organizations were repeatedly arrested and detained under the PSA despite court orders for their release.

• Suresh Ale Magar, a lecturer at Kathmandu University and leader of the All Nepal Nationalities Organization, was rearrested immediately after the Supreme Court ordered his release on no less than three occasions. He was released on 23 December and was last seen being driven away in a police van; his whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year.

More than 400 people were considered under a scheme encouraging CPN (Maoist) activists to surrender. The legal basis for the scheme was unclear.

Total abolition of the death penalty

The death penalty was formally abolished for all crimes at the beginning of May after King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev gave royal assent to two legislative amendments. Although there is no provision for the death penalty in the 1990 Constitution, the death penalty had remained on the statute books in a number of laws passed before 1990, including for acts of high treason. Under the authority of Article 28 of the Constitution, the King repealed these provisions, replacing the death penalty for treason with a maximum term of 25 years' imprisonment and confiscation of assets.

Impunity

Impunity was widespread in relation to extrajudicial executions, "disappearances" and torture. This manifested itself at the constitutional level; the right to life is not explicitly provided for in the Constitution and relatives of people believed to have been killed by the police therefore do not have recourse to the Supreme Court. Habeas corpus petitions filed before Supreme and Appellate courts in the cases of "disappeared" prisoners proved ineffective.

There was a complete lack of accountability for possible extrajudicial executions during so-called "encounters"; the investigations were kept as an entirely internal police matter and the bodies of victims were disposed of without any inquiry. The limited existing legal provisions applicable to the investigation of alleged "encounters" proved inadequate and contributed to the prevailing climate of impunity.

Several cases filed under the Torture Compensation Act of 1996 failed owing to intimidation or corruption by the police.

Abuses by the CPN (Maoist)

There were reports of deliberate killings of civilians judged by the CPN (Maoist) to be "enemies of the revolution", including alleged police informants. "People's courts" were functioning in some parts of the country. Some of the sentences reportedly imposed by these courts, such as beatings, amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments.

• Tek Bahadur Shahi, a journalist and potential Nepali Congress election candidate, was killed by members of the CPN (Maoist) armed with kukuris (traditional curved knives) in September in Achham district.

National Human Rights Commission

The long-awaited appointment of the members of the Commission was further delayed, subject to the deliberations of a Task Force set up in November and mandated to draw up internal guidelines for the functioning of the Commission.

AI country reports and visits

Report

• Nepal: Human rights at a turning point? (AI Index: ASA 31/001/99)

Visit

An AI delegation visited Nepal in November.