Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has protested the arrest and ill-treatment of Bhawana Prasain, a woman journalist of monthly Majdur Aawaj, arrested on February 9 on the charges of being a Maoist.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Paris-based press freedom organisation said, “She has been detained since 9 February 2006 and was beaten by police trying to force her to confess membership of the Maoist party.”

Over the past two days, police also arrested Jaya Prakash Gupta and Amar Bahadur Sunar, the statement added.

“Yet again, a journalist has been arrested and accused without any proof of being a Maoist. It is disgraceful to see the police implicated in these acts of torture to force confessions,” the press freedom organisation said.

“We call for Bhawana Prasain’s immediate release,” it added.

The RSF also called for the immediate release of Gupta, editor of the daily Upatyaka Sandhyakalin and the weekly Dishanirdesh, who was arrested on the morning of 3 March and Sunar, correspondent in Dailekh in western Nepal for the government news agency RSS and the national daily Rajdhani, who was arrested by police on 2 March.