Police on Friday raided a major private radio broadcaster, seizing key studio and transmitting components after the station defied a government order to halt newscasts, an official said.
Kantipur Radio channel -- which belongs to the country's largest private media group -- was raided by dozens of police on Friday, said Amit Dhakal, news editor of the Kathmandu Post, the English daily published by the Kantipur group.
Dhakal said police took away an incoder, a satellite modem and digital audio recorder, among other things, at the station, which broadcasts from the capital, Kathmandu.
The raid came hours after hundreds of journalists demonstrated in Nepal's capital on Friday to protest a the law that allows the station to be shut down and imposes a two-year prison sentence for publishing or broadcasting any criticism of absolute ruler King Gyanendra.
"We have decided to defy the law and challenge it in court," said Shiva Gaunle of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, which organized the protest. "We have taken to the street to force the King to repeal the black ordinance," Gaunle said.
Since the king seized absolute power on Feb. 1, criticism of the royal government and security forces has been banned, along with independent reporting on the country's insurgency. Dozens of reporters have been arrested since then, and six are believed to still be behind bars.
The new law provides for a 10-fold hike in the maximum fine on newspapers and journalists to 500,000 rupees (US$7,000) if they criticized the royal government. It gives the government the power to revoke journalists' press accreditation.
Friday's demonstration was also joined by doctors, lawyers and teachers, who said the clampdown on media was a violation of constitutional rights.
"We still urge the king to revoke this draconian law," said Sudha Sharma, chairwoman of Nepal Medical Association.
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