Nepal court overturns closure order of radio centre
AFP, Kathmandu
Nepal's Supreme Court has overturned a government order to close a media centre in Kathmandu that supplies radio programming to community stations across the country, the centre said Wednesday. The court Tuesday found that the closure order served on the Communication Corner by the Ministry for Information and Communications was illegal, the centre's chairman, Montessori Rajbhandari, told AFP. The Communication Corner had petitioned the court to reverse the order, which was served on the centre on May 27 as part of an ongoing media crackdown following King Gyanendra's power grab in February. Rajbhandari said the court had ordered the government to allow the Communication Corner, which provides programming to 14 of the 50 private FM radio stations across the country, to continue working. The king ordered a halt to all radio bulletins when he dismissed the government and seized power on February 1. Since then the centre said it had been producing programming dealing with social issues such as health, community development and religion. On Wednesday, police arrested 48 members of the Federation of Nepal Journalists for protesting the continued ban on new broadcasts.
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