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This News Service is posted by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ (Tel +44-71-413-5500,
Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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News Service 11/96

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON 19 JANUARY 1996
AI INDEX : ASA 37/03/96


SRI LANKA: ARRESTS APPEAR TO RUN COUNTER TO FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION

Recent arrests of hundreds of Bhutanese people  in northeast
India who walked from refugee camps in eastern Nepal may run
counter to the right to freedom of expression and peaceful
assembly, according to Amnesty International.

      The human rights organization is appealing for
information from the Indian government about the reasons for
their arrest, and is urging that those Bhutanese people still
in custody be immediately and unconditionally released unless
charged with recognizable criminal offences.
      Most recently, on 17 January, Indian police arrested
150 people who had set off by foot on 14 January from the
refugee camps at the border at Panitanki, West Bengal, India.
They were arrested together with 16 members of an India-based
refugee support group. They are currently detained at
Siliguri jail.

      The march was organized by the Appeal Movement
Coordinating Committee, an organization based in Nepal. The
stated aim of the march was to walk to the capital of Bhutan,
Thimphu, and present a petition to the King ~requesting
restoration of fundamental rights in Bhutan and early
repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees~. The marchers
reportedly all wore white T-shirts with ~Peaceful marcher -
14 January 1996" printed on them.

      Earlier, between 3 and 7 January, approximately 240
Bhutanese people from the refugee camps in Nepal had been
taken into custody while on their way to a rally in West
Bengal, India. Those arrested were cyclists and students
heading for Jaigoan, via Siliguri, to attend a rally
scheduled to be held on 11 January. They were released on 13
and 15 January.

      That rally was organized by the Bhutan Coalition
Development Movement, a coalition of Bhutanese human rights
groups and political parties in exile and was intended to
publicize the plight of the people from Bhutan currently
living in the refugee camps in Jhapa District, eastern Nepal,
and the apparent lack of progress in negotiations between the
governments of Bhutan and Nepal on the possible return of
some of them to Bhutan.

      On 12 January, Amnesty International had sought
information from the government of India about the reasons
for the arrest of the 200 Bhutanese people and urged that
they be immediately and unconditionally released unless they
were to be charged with recognizable criminal offences. The
organization also urged that those detained be treated well.
Amnesty International was pleased to learn that those
arrested between 3 and 7 January were subsequently released.
ENDS\

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