KATHMANDU, NEPAL — All Kushal Karki could say, as handcuffs were slapped around his wrists, was that he wasn’t a criminal. He does criticize the government, he says. But is that a legal offense?
Karki, a father and restaurant worker, was making steamed dumplings when two strangers arrived and instructed him to accompany them to the Nepal Police Cyber Bureau. They told him it was a minor issue.
“They said this is just a normal case, and you can return in no time,” he says.
But when he got to the Cyber Bureau, his phone was confiscated, an arrest warrant was issued, and he was jailed for 10 days. He was charged under the Electronic Transactions Act of 2006 for “spreading false information about respectable persons.” The offense? Posting a video on Facebook that shows a group of young people shouting slogans against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his coalition partner, Foreign Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
That was on Sept. 5. He still doesn’t have that phone back, he says.
Karki’s Facebook page has over 77,000 followers. He says that’s because he constantly questions the government and supports new leaders, which resonates with people.
But that’s not a reason to charge Karki with a crime, says Ganesh Datt Devkota, his lawyer.
“He is not the direct source posting the video. He did not even make the video himself,” Devkota says. “Many people have posted the same video.”
Across Nepal, people are being detained, arrested or convicted of cyber crimes on the grounds that they’re criticizing politicians and political parties on social media.
According to the Cyber Bureau, 11 people were charged with crimes in the past year for anti-government posts on social media, with cases filed under the Electronic Transactions Act — on top of many others who were arrested but not charged. The social media accounts of each person charged highlight opposition to established parties and support for newer ones. Two, including Karki, had large followings of tens of thousands of people.
In some cases, the Cyber Bureau simply removes content from the internet that might “spark social conflict and spread rapidly” rather than identifying individuals, Cyber Bureau spokesperson Deepak Raj Awasthi says. He adds that complaints about political criticism are rare.
The Nepali government is shifting toward authoritarianism despite constitutional free speech protections, says Taranath Dahal, executive chief of Freedom Forum, a nongovernmental organization working for institutionalization of democracy.
When one citizen is oppressed, the voices of thousands of others are silenced, he says.
“This causes thousands of people to self-censor, ultimately undermining freedom of expression,” he adds.
Nepal’s relationship with the internet is relatively new. In 2004, only 0.4% of the population had access. Now, nearly half are online. Of those online, 87.7% use social media, with Facebook being the most popular.
As internet use grows, so does political expression online.
“Citizens speak where they believe they’ll be heard, and social media is one example,” says Tikaram Pokharel, spokesperson for Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission.
That expression has prompted the government to exert greater control over digital spaces.
In November 2023, the government banned TikTok just before a rally organized by medical trader Durga Prasai. The rally called for restoration of the monarchy and the country as a Hindu nation, as well as for abolishing federalism. The government said the ban was due to the app’s negative impact on social harmony.
The rally happened anyway, and police records show about 9,000 people attended. Many people believe the ban was aimed at stopping Prasai’s social media posts.
That same month, the government required social media companies to open local offices and adhere to social media guidelines addressing misinformation and harmful content. A regulatory framework was needed to guard against misinformation, hate speech and other harmful content on social platforms, says Gajendra Kumar Thakur, spokesperson for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
The TikTok ban was lifted in August 2024, but the guidelines remain.
Senior advocate Narayan Ghimire of the Center for Rule of Law-Nepal says that prosecuting individuals under the Electronic Transactions Act rather than civil laws, such as for defamation, suggests a government intent to punish people. The law criminalizes certain speech with up to five years in prison. But it is written with some ambiguity, which allows selective enforcement, Ghimire says.
Those concerns are legitimate, says Santosh Sigdel, executive director of Digital Rights Nepal, a digital rights nonprofit.
“Social media also plays an important role in spreading misinformation and disinformation,” he says. “This is the biggest threat to democracy.”
But people arrested by the Cyber Bureau say their actions don’t amount to crimes.
Days before Karki’s arrest, Ramesh Bahadur Rawat, a hospital worker, was detained because he shared a Facebook photo labeling the prime minister and foreign minister as corrupt.
Arrested in Barhabise, in Bagmati province, and transferred 90 kilometers (nearly 56 miles) to the Cyber Bureau in Kathmandu at 2 a.m., Rawat was accused of “character assassination of honorable people.” He was held for 18 days and released on 50,000 Nepali rupees (about 372 United States dollars) bail.
“I was terrified I’d be jailed for a long time,” he says.
Sunita Neupane is a Global Press Journal reporter-in-residence based in Nepal.
TRANSLATION NOTE
Sunil Pokhrel, GPJ, translated this article from Nepali.