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Aug 13, 2003   Nepal Samacharpatra ...  PAGE #1


"Government indifferent to bringing back citizens languishing in foreign jails"

There are hundreds of Nepalis serving jail sentences abroad who are leading 
hellish lives while their relatives are remain in a tense situation because the 
government is indifferent to taking action.

According to the Prisoner Transfer and Exchange Treaty (PTET), which has been 
put into Nepali law, the government may bring prisoners back from whichever 
country in which they are incarcerated, but so far the government has never 
invoked this agreement.

Even though a request has been put before His Majesty’s Government regarding 
the terrible situation of these prisoners, there has been no response. Despite 
the fact that the ministries have looked at and given lip service to judicial 
and parliamentary action, one high official says, "It is being studied, but its 
implementation has not yet begun."

How many Nepalis are in jail in foreign countries? No official has a clear 
answer to this question. But according to a study done by a committee formed by 
the American engineer Ben Parks, about 300 Nepalis are in foreign jails.

Raju Gurau is a representative of the PTET committee from Nepal who accompanied 
Parks on this trip to Thailand to in an effort to return prisoners to Nepal. He 
says, "The situation of the Nepali prisoners remains grave. Some innocent 
people have been incarcerated, and as the government has not given timely 
attention to this matter, their situation has become more and more desperate."

According to Gurau, two prisoners in Bangkwang Jail (one of four jails in 
Thailand) Hari Bahadur Gurung of Dhading and Pore Ghale were tortured to the 
point of losing their hearing. "They deposited some of their possessions with 
the prison when they entered, but these things have disappeared," said Gurau.

According to the PTET Nepal committee, there are presently 16 Nepali prisoners 
in Thailand’s Klong Prem Prison, 10 in the Women’s Prison, and 12 prisoners in 
Bambhat Prison. In Bangkwang Prison, all are serving life sentences. These 
prisoners have sent a request through the representatives of the PTET Nepal 
Committee to His Majesty’s Government to initiate action to bring them back to 
Nepal. Raju said, "I will try to present this petition to the Royal Palace."

In reality, some of the prisoners there are accused of drug trafficking, and 
some of extortion, the PTET representative said. "We spoke many times to the 
Nepali Ambassador Janak Bahadur Singh and the First Secretary Narayan Prasad 
Mainali, and as the Home Ministry has done nothing about this matter, we had to 
reply to the prisoners that they could not be returned," said the 
representative.

According to statistics, at least 60 Nepalis are serving time in jail in 
European countries. There are many Nepalis in jail in Malaysia, Thailand, 
Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan. Among those in jail, some have 16 
year sentences, and some are serving life sentences, it is said.

Aside from these, it is assumed that there are Nepali prisoners in places where 
Nepalis have gone to work: Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, 
Singapore, Australia, Cypress, Belgium, Canada, America, South Korea, and India.

The PTET agreement was initiated in 1983, on recognition that prisoners who are 
involved in legal action in a foreign country may not understand the language, 
culture, religion, or food. Despite the fact that more than 50 nations agreed 
on the prisoner transfer treaty, Nepal has yet to invoke this treaty with any 
nation.

Thus human rights activist Birendra Kesari Pokhrel, member of the committee 
formed to put pressure on the government to invoke the international prisoner 
transfer campaign said, "Beyond managing expenditures for clothes, etc., the 
government should give attention to the great importance of the humanitarian 
aspect of this action."
 
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