Original Story

August 19, 2004

Absence of extradition treaty leaves Nepali prisoners in Thailand 

Seventy Nepalis prisoners are stuck in the Thai jails in the absence of an extradition
 treaty between Nepal and Thailand, a report said. Most Nepalese were imprisoned in 
Thailand on charges of drug trafficking, the report added. 

According to The Rising Nepal, the Thai government had back in 2000 handed a proposal
 to Nepal, asking it to sign an extradition treaty. However, Nepal is still engaged
 in arranging the necessary groundwork. 

“We have been working for the transfer of the Nepalis held in the Thai jails. 
The legal formalities that need to be completed will take a long time,” the daily 
quoted minister of state for foreign affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat as saying. 

According to a Nepali diplomat, although most of the Nepalese have been held on 
charges of drug trafficking, majority of them have been made ‘scapegoats’ by 
drug dealers who had them carry drugs promising them a lot of money and attractive
 jobs, the daily reported. 

The inmates have been requesting the Nepal government transfer them to Nepali jails, 
it is reported. Four inmates have died in different Thai jails in the last 18 years, 
according to the daily. 

nepalnews.com pd Aug 19 04

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