Politicians out from illegal detention

“The best thing was that HURON always knew in which prison we were located. That meant we couldn’t disappear. That made a huge difference to us,” the politicians say after their release.

By Malene Lærke

09. August 2007

There was joy and relief the 22^nd of February when seven politicians came out of the court in Nepalgunj after 28 days of imprisonment. They were greeted with tikka, posed for group photos and thereafter rushed out on the street to shout slogans. The politicians had been moved from prison to prison being used as a shield against Maoist attacks. The military believed that after the seven political parties and the Maoists had written the 12 point agreement the Maoists would not attack a prison with imprisoned politicians.

“We realised that the military used us as a human defence against cross firing, but that was not the worst thing. I was afraid of disappearing in the hands of the military like so many others has done,” tells Badhsa Barma, vice president of Nepali Congress in Banke district that adds that none of the politicians were beaten in jail.

“The police will never answer any questions about where people are. They just shoot people and then they are gone but because HURON all the time knew where we were and to which prison we were transferred we became free from fear,” tells Sabir Ali Jaggadh, member of Nepali Congress.

A peaceful rally

The seven politicians were arrested on the 26^th of January 2005 while doing a peaceful rally in Nepalgunj in connection with the upcoming municipality election. The plan was to go from the Nepali Congress office to the office of the Election Commission and make a speech. It was planned as a peaceful demonstration.

“I was leading the rally group when the police came from two sides and closed the road. I wanted to go to a police officer and tell him this was a peaceful demonstration when an officer shouted: “Let us grab him and arrest him,” recalls Sabir Ali Jaggadh.

Sabir Ali Jaggadh ran down the street but was caught by the police and arrested and put in a van together with other politicians which all were shouting slogans from the car. In all 35 politicians from different parties were arrested. According to the police they were all arrested because their actions were against the Public Security Act 2046.

HURON took action immediately and went to the police station to talk to the politicians and observe how they were treated. According to the constitution a party when it is registered can do peaceful activities.

“We have to be the watchdog of democracy. All what the politicians were doing was a peaceful demonstration and therefore the case was of concern for HURON,” says Abdul Aziz Muslman, lawyer and secretary at HURON Banke.

Argument in court

In court the argument from HURON was that the role of Public Security Act 2046 is to prevent violence but the politicians were in fact already demonstrating. Secondly, there was not sufficient proof of violence during the demonstration nor was there any proof that the politicians wanted to disturb the public peace. Therefore there was no match between the Public Security Act and the charge.

Support of democracy

Today the politicians believe that if HURON had not been involved it would have taken much more time before they would have been released. However, they would have been released eventually, they say.

According to the politicians their release brings an important message to the people that human rights organisations fight for democracy.

“People are afraid to fight for democracy because they fear they won’t get any help if they are arrested. They are afraid of the consequences and that they will just disappear in the hands of the military. But this proofs that there is help to get. This will make people fight and believe in democracy because human rights organisations can and will help. This is an important motivation,” says Badhsa Barma.