Kathmandu, February 6:

Nepal University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) today requested Ian Martin, chief of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to help release various professionals or ensure them basic human facilities in detention.

Shiva Prasad Muna Karmi, president of the Tribhuvan University Teachers’ Association, headed the delegation and briefed OHCHR chief about the condition of 32 professionals including professors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers and human rights activists, who were arrested from a protest rally against autocracy on February 3.

They appealed to the OHCHR to be actively involved in protecting the rights of detainees and to caution the government about providing basic rights to the detainees.

The team briefed that the government had handed over 90-day detention order and were deprived of basic facilities.

The team forwarded a memorandum demanding separate toilets for male and female detainees, basic human facilities, visit of detention centres by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and involvement of OHCHR in protecting the rights of the detainees.