The Nepal hostage crisis began on 19 August 2004 when an Iraqi

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric na ...

group,

Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit=Jamia, Assembly of the Ansar (Islam), Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Ansar (Islam), Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ib ...

kidnapped and murdered twelve Nepalis.

Events

Moonlight Consultancy Private Limited, company based in Nepal, recruited twelve Nepalis to work in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Jordan as chefs, cleaners and builders for Jordanian businesses. On 19 August 2004, they were transported to Iraq by a caravan using the Amman-Baghdad Highway. The same day, they were kidnapped by an Iraqi

group,

. On 20 August, the group released a video of the hostages which showed them begging for their lives and blaming Pralhad Giri of Moonlight Consultants for their abduction; the media was aired by various Nepali channels. On 23 August, the

Government of Nepal The Government of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल सरकार) is the federal executive authority of Nepal. Prior to the abolition of the Nepali monarchy in 2006 (became republic in 2008), it was officially known as His Majesty's Government. T ...

made a plead via the

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

television channel, however, Nepali diplomats were unable to contact the kidnappers. The Nepali government also wrote to the

Iraqi government The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as wel ...

, nevertheless, on 31 August at 6 pm, television channels broadcast pictures of the dead bodies of 12 Nepalis. In a video later posted by the militants to jihadist websites online the hostages are shown being executed, with one beheaded and the rest shot dead.

Hostages

Sources: # Sanjay Kumar Thakur # Budan Kumar Shah # Lalan Singh Koirala # Manoj Kumar Thakur # Jhok Bahadur Thapa # Jit Bahadur Thapa # Ramesh Khadka # Mangal Bahadur Limbu # Bishnu Hari Thapa # Rajendra Kumar Shrestha # Gyanendra Shrestha # Prakash Adhikari

Aftermath

Riots

Riots in Nepal began shortly after the hostages were killed. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, which saw

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

, as well as imposed

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

and the deaths of two people. Several violent clashes with police followed the crisis, along with vandalism of

Kantipur Publications Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd. ( ne, कान्तिपुर पब्लिकेशन्स प्रा. लि.) is a media firm based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The company operates five widely circulated print publications. It is the first ...

Kantipur Television Kantipur Television, popularly known as KTV, is a private television station based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The chairman and managing director is Kailash Sirohiya. Launched in July 2002, KTV is licensed for terrestrial and satellite transmission. Ka ...

, Space Time Network, and

Channel Nepal Channel Nepal was the first Nepali satellite television channel. Jamim Shah, a media entrepreneur, owned the channel until his 2010 murder. This channel provides entertainment, information and current affairs. The station was banned temporarily i ...

. The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies was reported to have lost about billions of

Nepali Rupees The Nepalese rupee ( ne, रुपैयाँ; symbol: रु; code: NPR) is the official currency of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The Nepalese rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paisa''. The issuance of the currency is controlled by th ...

(NPR), and various companies also lost about 750 million NPR in damages.

Reactions

King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...

and Queen Komal expressed their "condolences to the family and relatives of the people killed by Iraqi militants". It was reported that they were "shocked and grieved" by the cruel acts made by Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna. On 1 September, Prime Minister

Sher Bahadur Deuba Sher Bahadur Deuba ( ne, शेरबहादुर देउवा, ; born 13 June 1946) is a Nepali politician and former prime minister of Nepal. He has also been serving as the president of the Nepali Congress since 2016. Deuba has served ...

gave a nationwide speech on

Radio Nepal Radio Nepal ( ne, रेडियो नेपाल) is the state-owned Radio broadcasting organisation of Nepal. It was established 2 April 1951. Radio Nepal airs programs on short wave, medium wave (AM broadcasting, AM) and FM broadcasting, FM ...

and he called for "restraint". Deuba stated he would also provide 1 million Nepalese rupees to victims' family, and proclaimed 2 September to be a national day of mourning. It was also condemned by

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...

Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

Natwar Singh Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS (born 16 May 1931) is an Indian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005. Singh was selected into the Indian Foreign Service, one of the most competitive an ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

, Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, governments of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. ''

The Kathmandu Post ''The Kathmandu Post'' is a major daily newspaper published in Nepal. Founded in February 1993 by Shyam Goenka, it is one of the largest English-language newspapers in the country. The newspaper is independently owned and published by Kantipur ...

'' called the militants "terrorists who have camouflaged themselves in the masks of Islam".

Lawsuit

In the media

* In 2018,

Cam Simpson Cam Simpson is a London-based writer and journalist. He is currently the senior international correspondent for ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' in London, and ''Bloomberg News''. Previously, he worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', with posts in the Mi ...

published non-fiction book '' The Girl From Kathmandu: Twelve Dead Men and a Woman's Quest for Justice'' which documents this incident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepal Hostage Crisis 2004 crimes in Iraq 2004 in Nepal Diplomatic crises of the 21st century Filmed executions in Iraq Foreign hostages in Iraq Mass murder in 2004 Nepal–Iraq relations Islamism-related beheadings Beheading videos War crimes in the Iraq War Massacres of the Iraq War August 2004 events in Iraq August 2004 events in Asia August 2004 crimes Islamic terrorism in Iraq Islamic terrorist incidents in 2004