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Nepal police seize broadcaster’s equipment

KATHMANDU: Police stormed into the office of a private radio broadcaster and seized satellite equipment after the government had earlier warned it to stop its transmissions to eastern Nepal, a station official said on Saturday.

The raid on the offices of Kantipur FM radio station in Lalitpur, on the southern outskirts of Kathmandu, took place late on Friday night, said the official, who asked not to be named.

“About three dozen armed police, accompanied by technicians (entered) the station at around 11:15 pm and seized eight pieces of satellite uplinking equipment, including a satellite modem, encoder and digital audio recorder,” the official said.

Earlier Friday, Ministry of Information and Communications officials had arrived at the station demanding that the broadcaster adhere to the provisions of a strict new law seen as a government attempt to further muzzle the media.

The ordinance, promulgated by King Gyanendra on October 9, imposes strict control over media ownership and publications, bans the broadcast of news on FM radios, outlines fines for defamation and limits imports of foreign publications.

Any news that ‘causes hatred or disrespect’ to any member of the royal family is also prohibited.

Kantipur FM, sister organisation of Kantipur Publications, the largest private media house in Nepal, has been relaying its regional transmission for the past five years from its station in Lalitpur to the far east of the country.

The cabinet approved the new regulations five months ago but they were put on hold after strong protests from media rights groups.

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists has vowed nationwide protests and is pushing the Supreme Court to nullify the ordinance, which has come under heavy criticism from various national and international media rights groups. afp

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