Freedom Forum has been concerned over digital harassment meted out against a noted journalist and rights activist Ms Babita Basnet for her article published on March 2. Ms Basnet had written an opinion article, stressing the need of reviewing law on rape . It was published on www.ghatanarabichar.com on March 2. With its publication, campaign on social media (Facebook and Twitter) was launched in protest of Basnet and her opinion. Even a coordinated camapaign in Twitter was spread with a hashtag #BoycottBabitaBasnet, thereby meting out digital harassment on rights activist and journalist Basnet. Talking to FF, journalist Basnet shared that the movement had seriously disturbed her. "I wrote the article based on one of my own case studies and it does not target any individual, group or gender. But, whatever I am facing now for practicing my right to free press and free expression harassed me much. I think it is a deliberate move to ruin my career", she observed. To this, Chief Executive at FF, Taranath Dahal viewed, "Every citizen has the right to agree or disagree on anyone's opinion. Both agreement and disagreement are their rights to free speech. But spreading harsh messages through coordinated campaign and boycotting the opinion writer is sheer instance of intolerance. Such intolerance not only harasses the opinion writer but also affects free speech atmosphere." For more information, Freedom Forum monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
