Nepalese colonel faces torture charges in UK court
- Last Updated on 12 January 2013
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Kumar Lama, 46, is accused of two counts of torture at an army barracks in the Nepalese Kapilvastu.
He is accused of intentionally inflicting severe pain or suffering, according to London's Metropolitan Police.
The alleged offenses occurred between April and October, 2005.
Lama is serving as a military observer under the U.N. Mission in Southern Sudan and was on vacation in Britain, Nepalese state media said.
His appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London comes two days after his arrest at a property in St. Leonard's-on-Sea, on England's south coast.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism squad searched his home.
The investigation into the torture allegations is being led by the squad, which also investigates alleged war crimes and human rights abuses.
Lama was arrested under Britain's 1988 Criminal Justice Act, which allows it to meet its obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture to prosecute anyone on its territory responsible for torture anywhere in the world.
Nepal summoned the British ambassador in Kathmandu on Friday to protest against the arrest, according to state-run Nepal Television.
The government demanded the officer's immediate release, the broadcaster cited Deputy Prime Minister Narayankaji Shrestha as saying. The Nepalese embassy in London has also been told to lodge a protest with the British government, it said.
Nepal's government is committed to ensuring justice, compensation and the human rights of torture victims, Shrestha is quoted as saying.
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