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A
prisoner of conscience spent his seventh year in prison. Fifty people, most of
whom were of Bhutanese origin living in refugee camps in eastern Nepal, were
briefly detained by police while attempting to cross the border at
Phuntsholing.
In April, a seventh round of talks between the
Governments of Bhutan and Nepal took place in Kathmandu on the fate of more than
90,000 people living in refugee camps in eastern Nepal, most of whom were
Nepali-speaking people from southern Bhutan. The process of joint verification
of the status of the people in the camps agreed by the Governments of Bhutan and
Nepal in April 1994 was further delayed (see Amnesty International Reports
1994 and 1995). By the end of September, over 100 more people had
left southern Bhutan to seek asylum in Nepal (see Amnesty International
Reports 1995 and 1996). Hundreds of camp residents participated in
peaceful marches and a cycle rally in northeast India aimed at publicizing their
plight. Hundreds of them were detained by the Indian authorities but later
released (see India entry). Several incidents of armed robbery in
southern Bhutan were attributed by the government to people returning to Bhutan
from the refugee camps in Nepal.
Delegates of the un Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention visited the country in April and May to check, among other things, on
the implementation of the 15 recommendations made after their 1994 visit (see
Amnesty International Report 1995). The Working Group reported that its
recommendations had generally been implemented but urged that a new Code of
Criminal Procedure should be adopted and that the institution of the
jabmi (a person conversant with the law) be strengthened.
Tek Nath Rizal, a prisoner of conscience, spent his
seventh year in prison (see Amnesty International Report 1994). The un
Working Group had earlier decided that his detention was not arbitrary. After
visiting the country, the Working Group declared that he had been arbitrarily
detained for the period from his arrest in November 1989 until his appearance
before the court in December 1992, but added that his detention since that time
was not arbitrary.
Fifty people, most of whom were of Bhutanese origin
living in refugee camps in eastern Nepal, were arrested in August by the Royal
Bhutan Police when they tried to cross the border from India to Bhutan at
Phuntsholing. They were detained overnight at a local administrative office in
Phuntsholing and then taken to the Indian national highway in Jalpaiguri
district where they were released, some by being pushed out of moving vehicles.
In July, the government reported that 89 people had
been imprisoned under the National Security Act. When the un Working Group
visited Bhutan in May, it was reported that 153 political prisoners were serving
sentences at Chemgang detention camp, while 52 were detained at Thimphu prison.
Amnesty International continued to appeal for the
release of Tek Nath Rizal and for fair trials for political prisoners.
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