In a region sliding toward authoritarianism in one country after another, the small Himalayan nation of Nepal was a shining exception.
Political debates remained largely free and the powerful could be easily challenged. That openness, in a poor country emerging from centuries of monarchical repression and decades of insurgency, demonstrated that democratic expression does not necessarily have to be correlated with economic status.
But the arrest last month of the owner of the country’s largest media conglomerate has raised fears about the Nepali government’s commitment to freedom of expression and whether the country is now following the path of its South Asian neighbors, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
The executive, Kailash Sirohiya, was detained almost two weeks ago in a thinly veiled act of retaliation by Nepal’s powerful interior minister, Rabi Lamichhane. The minister had been the subject of intensely negative coverage by the Kantipur Media Group, owned by Mr Sirohiya.
The company’s news articles had revealed that Mr. Lamichhane, a popular television presenter before entering politics, had broken the law by serving in Parliament while retaining citizenship in a second country, the United States.
Lamichhane resigned but months later returned to Parliament and to head the Ministry of the Interior, after addressing the question of citizenship. However, Kantipur continued to examine Mr. Lamichhane’s actions, later reporting allegations of embezzlement against him.
The media group was not the only one to publish critical reports about Lamichhane, but it has the widest reach. The company owns Kantipur, the largest circulation Nepali language newspaper, and its English sister publication, The Kathmandu Post, as well as magazines and radio and television channels.
Authorities arrested Sirohiya “with a vindictive attitude,” said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of a news website in Nepal. “The government has given a message: if you criticize the government, it will muzzle you.”
The nature of Mr. Sirohiya’s arrest indicates that it was deliberately targeted.
A person filed a complaint saying that Mr. Sirohiya had a citizenship number (every Nepali receives one) that was the same as his. While such an allegation is serious, there have been many cases of irregularities under Nepal’s arcane citizenship system, some of which involve judges and generals.
What is different in Mr. Sirohiya’s case is that he was arrested and detained before the facts were established. In previous cases, investigations were first conducted to determine whether the problem was the result of an administrative error or a violation such as forgery.
On May 21, dozens of police officers, led by a senior superintendent, arrived at the Kantipur offices and loaded Mr. Sirohiya into a van. He was expelled from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, overnight to Dhanusha, a district bordering India, where he remained in custody until Thursday.
Visiting Kathmandu during a trip to the region, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard criticized the government’s decision to take Sirohiya into custody, saying the charges did not require doing so.
The target of Kantipur’s critical reports, Lamichhane, is the home minister of a coalition government in which multiple parties have interests. Sirohiya’s arrest, analysts said, suggested unity among the parties in their view of the free press as a thorn in the side. The delicate balance that had defined Nepal may now tilt towards the political class, they said.
Santosh Pariyar, leader of Lamichhane’s Rastriya Swatantra Party, rejected any suggestion that the arrest had been revenge for critical news coverage. He said it was “mere coincidence” that Lamichhane had “come to the conclusion” that Sirohiya had violated Nepali citizenship laws.
“We know well how important the press is for democracy,” Pariyar said.
However, the arrest has had a chilling effect, raising concerns that the country could be returning to the dark days it seemed to have left behind.
During the monarchy, which ended in 2008 after the last king, Gyanendra Shah, was ousted over protests, the press was censored and journalists were frequently jailed.
But Nepal’s new Constitution, which establishes a parliamentary democracy, guarantees full freedom of the press. A vibrant civil society rejected any attempts to restrict freedom of expression and continued to cry out for the powerful to be held accountable.
One of the Maoist rebels who pushed to overthrow the monarchy, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, is now the prime minister and leader of the coalition in which Lamichhane serves as a minister. Even some of Dahal’s former supporters have criticized him for Sirohiya’s arrest.
“I am ashamed to even see Prachanda following Gyanendra’s path after taking King’s place,” Baburam Bhattarai, former Maoist leader and prime minister, wrote in X.
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting from New Delhi.