Kathmandu, March 19 -- The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a report published this month has found the Bhutanese government to have detained its citizens without parole for expressing their political opinions, in direct contrast to its multiparty democratic system and its claim of being an enlightened land that promotes "gross national happiness".

Human Rights Watch and the Global Campaign for the Release of Political Prisoners in Bhutan (GCRPPB) identified at least 37 political prisoners in the country in 2023. The vast majority of this group - 32 prisoners - belong to Bhutan's Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa community, which has faced decades of discrimination and abuse from the Bhutanese government. Most of them wer...