A Christian from South Korea arrested in Nepal on charges of “attempting to convert” was released on bail on Wednesday, Morning Star News has reported.
Cho Yusang, a 73-year-old evangelical Christian, posted bail of 150,000 Nepalese rupees ($US1,330) after being arrested on 23rd July, according to Morning Star News which quoted Tanka Subedi, chair of the Religious Liberty Forum Nepal, saying that his health deteriorated after he was incarcerated and he had been hospitalised.
On Monday, Subedi told Morning Star News that Cho had been released from hospital care.
“Though he was out of hospital, he was feeling dizzy this morning also,” Subedi said. “His health is still not good. He does not want to go back to the hospital, because he does not have much money left. He does not have insurance cover to pay his bills.”
In Nepal on a business visa, Cho was also charged with misuse of visa.
The charge of “attempting to convert” under calls for as much five years in jail and/or a fine of up to 50,000 Nepalese Rupees ($US445), Subedi told Morning Star News.
A police spokesman was reported as saying that Cho and two other foreigners working separately from him were found involved in conversion activity in Pokhara, in central Nepal. Cho had been allegedly distributing leaflets and Bibles in the Barachi area of Kaski District, in Gandaki Pradesh Province, the spokesman told Kathmandu-based news outlet Republica. Two Japanese nationals, Jehovah’s Witnesses unaffiliated with Cho, had also been arrested on the same charges.
BP Khanal, national coordinator of Nepal for the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, told Morning Star News that after arresting Cho from his lakeside lodging, police raided his room and confiscated some Bibles and Christian literature.
Khanal, who is responsible for inter-faith relations for the Nepal Christian Society, said possession of a Bible and Christian literature is not evidence of a crime.
“In this case the law is discriminatory, because it is not an offense to have Bibles in your room,” Khanal told Morning Star News. “The recovery of some Bibles and Christian literature from Yusang’s personal belongings is projected as an offense and as a crime Yusang committed. Anybody can have a Bible – it is not a drug or an explosive. Carrying a Bible should not be and must not be a criminal offense.”
The Nepal Christian Society has hired an attorney for Cho, he said.
Meanwhile, a US citizen, Bradley Navarro Anagaran, was arrested on a charge of possessing Christian literature on 21st June, according to the RLFN, which added that when local pastor Hira Singh Sunar went to the police station to inquire about his arrest, officers arrested him as well and both Anagaran and Sunar were charged with attempting to convert.
Anagaran was found with two discipleship leaflets designed for use within a church circle, Christian sources told Morning Star News.
“Apart from the literature on discipleship, police have confiscated a few pairs of reading glasses from his backpack, which means that the police did not find him distributing the literature to anybody,” Khanal of the IPPFoRB said.
The two Christians were released on bail on 3rd July, and Anagaran has since returned to the United States, but he must return for a hearing at the end of this month and every court date thereafter, Subedi of the RLFN said.
