Saturday, September 17 2005 15:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Hours after their detention, more than 80 journalists, who protested against Government's continued crackdown on media, have been released even as 17 scribes in a western Nepal district have decided to leave the area after allegedly receiving threats from local Army.

The 81 journalists, released late last night, were detained earlier in the day at Ratnapark, a restricted area at the center of Kathmandu, while holding a peaceful demonstration demanding press freedom and unrestricted access to information.

Those released after several hours of detention included President of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nishthuri, FNJ General Secretary Mahendra Bista, former Press Council Chairman Harihar Birahi and other senior journalists including three women journalists.

The FNJ, in a statement, condemned the mass detention of journalists by the government while holding peaceful demonstration under the third phase of their protest shows.

The Human Rights and Peace Society and South Asian Federation of Media Association (SAFMA) have also condemned the detention of the scribes in separate statements.

Meanwhile, 17 journalists in Dailekh district, 650 km west of Kathmandu, have made SOS call to national and international media and rights bodies after they received 'continued threats' from the local security officials.

All the 17 scribes, after holding a meeting, decided to leave the district as the situation there is life threatening, said FNJ General Secretary Bista.

The 17 journalists have been allegedly receiving threats from the local army after they covered a news item about the army providing arms training to a number of children for creating a child defence force to retaliate the Maoists' attack in a village of the district.

Also, the Maoists abducted a reporter of 'Navajagrity Weekly', Rajkumar Raut, three days ago. Editor of the weekly, Bijaya Mishra, has appealed to the rebels to free him.

Similarly, a female reporter from Jhapa district, Saraswoti Karki, has been receiving threats from the Maoists, FNJ sources said.