NEPAL: MAOIST CADRES ALLEGEDLY TORTURE VICTIMS AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000972

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER SNAR KHIV UN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST CADRES ALLEGEDLY TORTURE VICTIMS AT
A "REHABILITATION CENTER"

Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
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1. (C) Cadres affiliated with the Maoists' youth wing over
the past four or five months have allegedly tortured hundreds
of current and recovering drug users in a "rehabilitation
center" in Balaju on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu.
Ekta Mahat (protect),a young former drug user and now an
activist for the rights of HIV-positive individuals, is one
of just a few victims who have come forward to describe these
abuses. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) is attempting to investigate this issue and
offer protection to victims. The Ambassador is working with
OHCHR representative Richard Bennett and with the British
Ambassador to ensure that Mahat and other victims are
afforded protective shelter and that the Maoist-led
government puts an immediate end to these Young Communist
League atrocities.

YCL Cadres Torture Drug Users
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2. (C) Over the past four or five months, cadres affiliated
with the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist's Young Communist
League (YCL) have allegedly forced hundreds of current and
recovering drug users to a "rehabilitation center" in the
Balaju Industrial Park, on the northern outskirts of
Kathmandu, and subjected them to physical and psychological
abuse. Ekta Mahat, a young HIV-rights activist and former
drug user who was tortured at this facility in early August
and who had come forward to USAID contractors, shared her
ordeal with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) on August 21 at post's request. She also
spoke to the DCM at post. The YCL abuse is supposedly to
cure victims of their drug habits and includes severe
beatings, inserting syringes under fingernails, binding limbs
and hanging the victims upside down, and shaming with nudity
and verbal insults. Victims are identified in known hot
spots where drug transactions take place and through mobile
phones stolen from other victims or drug dealers. When
victims are released, the YCL cadres threaten to recapture
and torture them again if they talk to anyone.

Center Operates Without Scrutiny
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3. (C) Rajiv Kafle, President of the National Association of
(HIV) Positive People/Nepal (NAP N),told the director of
Mission's USAID health program on August 20 that he believed
the Balaju center may actually be a registered NGO run by
"Wives of YCL." Kafle said that the YCL brings five to seven
victims to the center each day. Kafle told post he had
informed the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in
Kathmandu in May that abuse was happening at the center.
UNODC documented the report but did not take action. Ganesh
Pun, leader of the YCL, seems to be in charge of the Balaju
center. The Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) sent Pun
to trainings in Goa and to a meeting in Barcelona to learn
about issues related to injecting drugs and HIV during the
past year, but post is not aware how this was initiated or
whether the center existed prior to his training.

OHCHR Attempts To Intervene
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4. (C) On August 25, a team for OHCHR and the UNAIDS
coordinator visited the "rehabilitation center" in Balaju,
but none of the occupants would speak to them, according to
Richard Bennett, head of OHCHR in Nepal. Conflicting
versions of this incident exist; Jackie McPherson of Family
Health International recounted to post on August 27
information she learned from the UNAIDS coordinator.
According to McPherson, YCL cadres prevented the team from
entering the center, claiming that no one was there. OHCHR
had been informed that 18 people were inside. The team asked

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to speak to three YCL members whose names several victims had
given during interviews with the agency the previous week.
The cadres denied those persons were there. The OHCHR team
refused to leave. Ganesh Pun attempted to exit the compound
while the team was waiting, and he too denied the presence of
anybody at the center. On August 27, Bennett told the
Ambassador that OHCHR intended to make another unannounced
visit to the center on August 28 or 29.

Comment: Post's Reaction
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5. (C) Post believes stories of torture are credible. Even
if they occurred as part of a misguided mission to make a new
Nepal free of social evils such as drug use, they constitute
torture and must be ended. Ekta Mahat in particular is at
risk because Ganesh Pun, who had attended a conference in Goa
on HIV and injecting drugs with her, would be able to
identify her as an informant. Post plans to ensure that
Mahat is able to enter protective shelter upon her return to
Nepal from the Philippines on August 30. Since her return to
post, the Ambassador has spoken with Richard Bennett, head of
OHCHR in Nepal, most recently on August 27. She has also
conferred with UK Ambassador Andrew Hall. All are gravely
concerned about this flagrant violation of human rights.
Bennett has agreed to take the lead, including in raising
this issue directly with Prime Minister Pushpa Dahal in the
coming days if the rehabilitation center is not immediately
closed down and steps taken to provide justice to victims.
If there is no immediate response to OHCHR's efforts, post
and the UK will coordinate in going public with sharp
criticism of these abuses.
POWELL