KATHMANDU: A human rights organization has reported that Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have been tortured by the country's Central Investigation Bureau in the capital, Kathmandu. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal on Monday concerning reports that 29-year-old Bhutanese refugee Jit Bahadur Subba, was arrested while applying for third country resettlement on April 27, and has been “severely” tortured under interrogation. The security forces, AHRC reported, are accusing him of smuggling drugs into the country and have threatened to file “false charges” against the man. He is now detained at Hanumandhoka Police Station and “needs immediate medical treatment.” According to the report, he was not allowed to meet with his lawyer without the presence of the police. “According to the information we have received, 29-year-old Jit Bahadur Subba lives in the Bhutanese refugee camp, Beldangi II,” the appeal began. “He belongs to one of the thousands Nepali-speaking families who, after having lived for several generations in Bhutan, were expelled from the country to refugee camps in Nepal twenty years ago. Mr. Subba had applied for resettlement to the USA and was kept in the transit office of the International organization for Migrant (IOM) in Baluwatar, Kathmandu for investigation of his identification documents from 12th to 27th April 2012,” the statement added. It then said he was stripped and beaten, as well as kept in horrifying conditions and remains in need of medical assistance.
