Two international rights groups asked Nepal's government yesterday to stop abusing and threatening Tibetan exiles protesting China's recent crackdown in their homeland.
Dozens have been beaten with batons or rounded up after rallying in front of the Chinese embassy and the UN compound in Kathmandu. Some have been told they faced possible deportation, New York-based Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.
In a letter to Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the groups asked Nepal "to immediately restore the rights to freedom of assembly, expression, and movement, by allowing Tibetans to go about their daily lives and carry out peaceful protests without fear of arrests or threats."
The rights groups said police were also preemptively arresting others believed to be Tibetan and claimed "increasing evidence of the police's use of sexual and other forms of assault."
In related news, Nepal has relaxed a restriction on climbing Mount Everest that was announced last month to prevent protests by Tibetans during the Olympic torch run, a senior government official said yesterday.
The government said last month that climbers would not be allowed to go above the base camp of Mount Everest between May 1 and May 10.
The restriction was introduced so that protesters couldn't climb the peak from the Nepal side and spoil the torch's run when it is carried to the summit early next month. China has already closed the route to the summit from Tibet.
But now climbers will be allowed to go up to camp two early next month so that they can better prepare their ascent to the summit later in the month.
Authorities were forced to relax the restriction after Nepali trekking groups complained the closure would ruin mountaineering in the tourism-dependent country.
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