Kathmandu, April 2
The Federation of Nepali Journalists has demanded that an independent investigation is launched into the removal of a news story published on Kathmandu Press, a news website of the country, on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, the website had published the story alleging Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s IT expert Asgar Ali, and sons of Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel and Oli’s chief political advisor Bishnu Rimal of forcing the government to buy various medical equipment required to control the coronavirus crisis at a rate higher than the market price.
The story was deleted from the website the next day, and the site has claimed that Oli’s political advisor Rimal and press advisor Surya Thapa directed the editorial team to remove the content. After the team refused, they made the site’s developer and designer Shiran Technologies to remove the content. Shiran Technologies is a subsidiary of F1 Soft that Ali owns.
The FNJ says the incident is an attack on press freedom.
The website republished the removed news later on Wednesday.
