District Administration of Kailali in the far-western region has released Nagendra Upadhyay, editor of `New Malika’ weekly—a Nepali language newspaper– after detaining him for nearly six months under the controversial anti-terrorist legislation.
Upadhyay was detained in July last year on charge of helping a Maoist activist to undergo treatment at a local hospital. The District Administration Office of Kailali then ordered to detain him under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) ordinance for a period of six months.
A meeting of the district level security committee on Tuesday, however, decided to free Upadhyay, according to sources.
23-year-old Upadhyay was freed today in the presence of office-bearers of Kailali district unit of the Federation of Nepalese Jouranlists (FNJ) on Wednesday.
Talking to Nepalnews over phone from Dhangadhi after his release this evening, Upadhyay said he was happy to be free at last. He said he was subject to physical abuse and mental torture while in custody in the first week of his detention. He was later booked under TADO and sent to district prison of Kailali.
“I will continue to work as a journalist and will join the on-going fight for press freedom and freedom of expression,” he said. Upadhyay said he has been asked to report to the District Administration Office of Kailali in every 15 days.
According to FNJ, one more journalist is still behind bars in the country. Tej Narayan Sapkota, affiliated with Mahima weekly published from Kathmandu, is being detained at Nakkhu prison in Lalitpur under TADO.