Minister for Information and Communications Bikram Timilsina has said that all journalists who were arrested have been released.
He announced the release through a post on social media.
He also said that the government is fully committed to press freedom.
“All the arrested journalists have been released. The government is fully committed to press freedom. Press freedom and responsible journalism are the pillars of democracy,” he wrote.
Earlier, the prime minister’s secretariat had said that the Prime Minister’s Office had not been informed about the incidents.
“The Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office were not involved in the arrests of the journalists. We had received no information about the matter. As soon as the prime minister learned of the incident, he instructed the authorities concerned to immediately release the detained journalists ,” Dipa Dahal, press adviser to the prime minister, told Setopati.
On Friday, police arrested Bishwamani Subedi, a journalist with Nepal Press; Dhiraj Basnet, editor-in-chief of DNA Khabar; and Shobharaj Baral, editor-in-chief of Motivate News.
Police had also gone to arrest Nawaraj Mainali, a journalist with Naya Patrika. The police team left after remaining at the newspaper’s office for two and a half hours.
Before leaving, the officers verbally instructed Editor Khagendra Panta to ensure that Mainali appear at the Cyber Bureau at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
