Govt to provide Rs 1m to Sah's family

The government on Wednesday decided to provide Rs 10 Lakh to the family of slain journalist Birendra Sah as compensation.

Sah, 34 was abducted from his home in Bara district on October 5 and killed on the same day by Maoist cadres.

A meeting of the council of ministers held at Singha Durbar also decided to pay Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of missing journalist Prakash Thakuri. The government has ordered a team to discover Thakuri's whereabouts.

The cabinet meeting has also expressed serious concern over the deteriorating law and order situation.

UNESCO condemns Sah's murder

The Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Koïchiro Matsuura On Wednesday condemned the murder of Bara Sah and voiced grave concern about reports of a growing campaign of intimidation of Nepali journalists.

“I condemn the murder of Birendra Sah,” the Director-General said in a statement.

“Freedom of expression is a basic human right and using force to silence journalists undermines the democratic rights of society as a whole. I trust that the authorities will do their utmost to bring the murderers of Sah to trial. I am also gravely concerned about increasingly frequent reports of attempts to intimidate reporters and editors,” Matsuura added. “Using physical violence or threats to keep reporters from doing their work is unacceptable and measures must be taken to stop these practices.”

According to Nepali and international media organizations, independent journalists and media companies have become the subject to increasing bullying by the Maoists,the statement further added.