KATHMANDU, NEPAL — All Kushal Karki could say as handcuffs were placed on his wrists was that he was not a criminal. He criticizes the government, he says. But is this a legal offense?
Karki, a father and restaurant worker, was preparing steamed dumplings when two strangers arrived and asked him to accompany them to the Nepal Police Cyber Office. They told him it was a minor problem.
“They said it was just a normal case and you could be back in no time,” he says.
But when he arrived at 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? Video posted on Facebook showing a group of youths shouting slogans against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his coalition partner, Foreign Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
It was September 5. He still hasn’t gotten that phone back, he said.
Karki’s Facebook page has more than 77,000 followers. He says it’s because he constantly questions the government and supports new leaders, which resonates with people.
But that’s no reason to charge Karki with a crime, says Ganesh Datt Devkota, his lawyer.
“He is not the direct source who posted the video. He didn’t even make the video himself,” says Devkota. “A lot of people posted the same video.”
Across Nepal, people are detained, arrested or convicted of cybercrime for criticizing politicians and political parties on social media.
According to the Cyber Bureau, 11 people have been charged with crimes in the past year for anti-government social media posts, with complaints filed under the Electronic Transactions Act – in addition to numerous others people who were arrested but not charged. The social media accounts of each indicted person highlight their opposition to established parties and their support for new parties. Two of them, including Karki, were followed by tens of thousands of people.
In some cases, the Cyber Bureau simply removes content from the Internet that could “trigger social conflict and spread rapidly” rather than identify individuals, says Cyber Bureau spokesperson Deepak Raj Awasthi. He adds that complaints about political criticism are rare.
Nepal’s government is moving toward authoritarianism despite constitutional protections for free speech, says Taranath Dahal, executive director of the Freedom Forum, a nongovernmental organization working to institutionalize democracy.
When one citizen is oppressed, the voices of thousands of others are silenced, he said.
“This pushes thousands of people into self-censorship, which ultimately undermines freedom of expression,” he adds.
Nepal’s relationship with the Internet is relatively new. In 2004, only 0.4% of the population had access to it. Today, almost half are online. Of those who are online, 87.7% use social media, with Facebook being the most popular.
As Internet use grows, so does online political expression.
“Citizens speak out where they think they will be heard, and social media is an example of that,” says Tikaram Pokharel, spokesperson for Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission.
This expression has prompted the government to exercise 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 the restoration of the monarchy and the country as a Hindu nation, as well as the abolition of federalism. The government said the ban was due to the app’s negative impact on social harmony.
The rally still took place and police records show that around 9,000 people participated. Many people believe that the ban was aimed at stopping Prasai’s social media posts.
The same month, the government asked social media companies to open local offices and adhere to social media guidelines regarding misinformation and harmful content. A regulatory framework was needed to guard against misinformation, hate speech and other harmful content on social platforms, said Gajendra Kumar Thakur, spokesperson for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
The ban on TikTok was lifted in August 2024, but the guidelines remain.
Senior lawyer Narayan Ghimire of the Center for the Rule of Law in Nepal says prosecuting individuals under the Electronic Transactions Act rather than civil laws, such as for defamation, suggests a government intention to punish people. The law criminalizes certain comments punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. But it is written with some ambiguity, which allows for selective application, Ghimire explains.
These concerns are legitimate, says Santosh Sigdel, executive director of Digital Rights Nepal, a digital rights nonprofit.
“Social media also plays an important role in the spread of misinformation,” he says. “This is the greatest threat to democracy.”
But those arrested by the Cyber Bureau say their actions do not constitute crimes.
Days before Karki’s arrest, Ramesh Bahadur Rawat, a hospital employee, was arrested for sharing a photo on Facebook calling the prime minister and foreign minister corrupt.
Arrested in Barhabise, Bagmati province, and transferred 90 kilometers away to the Kathmandu Cyber Bureau at 2 a.m., Rawat was charged with “defamation of honorable persons.” He was detained for 18 days and released on bail of 50,000 Nepalese rupees (approximately US$372).
“I was afraid of being imprisoned for a long time,” he said.
