By: Chhetria Patrakar
In Bhutan, the situation is certainly not as dire as that in Burma, but ‘press freedom’ continues to be a relative term. Journalist Shanti Ram Acharya has been given a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for being involved in “subversive activities”, and for allegedly having links to Maoist groups that work against Thimphu. The truth appears to be more that along the lines that Acharya, long a refugee in Nepal, had worked for two papers published by exiles. This, coupled with his political activism on behalf of refugees, seems to be the real crux of the matter.
Source: Himal South Asian
In Bhutan, the situation is certainly not as dire as that in Burma, but ‘press freedom’ continues to be a relative term. Journalist Shanti Ram Acharya has been given a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for being involved in “subversive activities”, and for allegedly having links to Maoist groups that work against Thimphu. The truth appears to be more that along the lines that Acharya, long a refugee in Nepal, had worked for two papers published by exiles. This, coupled with his political activism on behalf of refugees, seems to be the real crux of the matter.
Source: Himal South Asian
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