Canadian asked to leave Nepal over controversial social media posts

Kathmandu: Nepal's has revoked the visa of Robert Penner, a Canadian citizen, and ordered him to leave the country within the next 48 hours for criticizing the government on social media.

The order was issued by the Department of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday, reports the Himalayan Times.

The Metropolitan Police Range of Lalitpur district arrested Penner, who has been living in Nepal for two years now, on charges of trying to undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the country and jeopardizing social harmony through provocative messages, views and comments on social networking sites, especially Twitter.

He had obtained work visa as an employee at Lalitpur-based Cloud Factory, an outsourcing company. His visa was to expire in December.

Police arrested him at the request of the Department of Immigration and handed him over to the immigration authority for legal action under the Immigration Procedures, 2008.

Bishwa Prakash Nepuane, director and information officer at the Department of Immigration said that Penner was guilty of indulging in anti-Nepal activities and was ordered to quit Nepal within two days.

"As per the DoI decision, Penner should fly back home no later than Thursday or else the government will initiate further action against him. We handed him over to the Consulate of Canada in Kathmandu, giving him two days for ticketing and other preparations," the Himalayan times quoted him as saying.

"The government may consider granting him visa on the basis of his activity and attitude toward Nepal after 2016," he added.

Penner was critical of the Nepal government, internal affairs of the country and Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, which have angered the authority to take action against him.