This is a follow-up to Friday's arrests, when two journalists were taken from Kathmandu newsrooms and police sought several others. Read the earlier report

All the journalists detained by Nepal Police in Friday's newsroom operation in Kathmandu were released in the late evening, Communications Minister Bikram Timilsina announced. "All the arrested journalists have been released. The government is fully committed to press freedom. Press freedom and responsible journalism are the pillars of democracy," the minister said, without specifying the number of journalists taken into custody without a formal warrant.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

Nepal Press journalist Bishwamani Subedi, who was taken from his newsroom in New Baneshwor by plainclothes officers, was released in the late evening, ANI reported. Cyber Bureau Superintendent of Police Deepak Awasthi confirmed that Subedi and several others had been brought in for questioning. "We needed to question him and a few others, so they were brought to the Cyber Bureau," Awasthi said.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

Prime Minister Balendra Shah's press adviser Deepa Dahal said the Prime Minister, his Secretariat and the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had no involvement in the detentions and had received no prior information about the operation. According to Dahal, after learning of the incident the Prime Minister instructed the authorities concerned to release the detained journalists immediately and stop police intervention inside newsrooms.

Source: Unified Nepal

Earlier on Friday, Media Action Nepal said Subedi and Motivate News journalist Shobhraj Baral had been arrested, and that plainclothes personnel had visited the offices of Naya Patrika daily seeking journalist Navaraj Mainali and of Diyo Post online seeking editor Sudip Bishwakarma. Nepal Press said no arrest warrant was shown when Subedi was taken away.

Source: Media Action Nepal

ANI reported that the detentions came a day after Naya Patrika published a report detailing an alleged WhatsApp exchange between Supreme Court Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal and Inam Sapkota, a man accused of using connections with powerful figures to influence state institutions. Those alleged exchanges have not been independently established, and ANI noted that demands for an investigation into the issue have been rising.

Press Council Nepal expressed serious concern over plainclothes personnel entering newsrooms, detaining journalists and attempting further arrests, ANI reported. The Federation of Nepali Journalists also condemned the newsroom interventions, and the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party has demanded an explanation from its own government, according to Unified Nepal. Who authorised the operation remained unanswered on Friday evening.