Nepal is has been in a state of media blackout since the King dismissed the elected parliament and established his own fiat government. Information leaking out of the country suggests that this “royal coup” may have been accompanied by more brutal forms of repression. Notably, when land line telephone service was restored, mobile carriers remained shut down.

Apparently there are some channels through which Nepalis can access the Web. Some have purportedly created a blog — Radio Free Nepal — to report on events inside their isolated nation and aggregate outside media coverage.

King Gyandendra of Nepal has issued a ban on independent news broadcasts and has threatened to punish newspapers for reports that run counter to the official monarchist line. Given that any person in Nepal publishing reports critical of “the spirit of the royal proclamation” is subject to punishment and/or imprisonment, contributors to this blog will publish their reports from Nepal anonymously.

Censorship of news within the country has been heavy-handed, with some publications being shut down outright.

Himal, a fortnightly newsmagazine that never failed to criticize the King’s role in the past, came up in the bravest way. The first issue after the coup was published two days ago and ran a full page advertisement and a note by editor to tell the readers that the magazine has been censored and claimed that it would soon change. The ad with two photographs, the first with the mountain (mountain is Himal in Nepali) covered by clouds with caption Mountain is blocked … and the second without clouds saying … but will again be unblocked, is so vivid in meaning that everybody understood the hidden meaning.

The editor’s note on the content page ‘we regret the difficulties caused by the imbalance in some of our article due to special censor’ and grey fill for the content relating to the coup along with the main editorial (‘Long Live Democracy’) talking about the King’s commitment towards democracy were all but the protest of the King’s move. The newsmagazine was heavy censored (how do I know it? Because they left all the censored areas blank.)

Tom Biro of The Media Drop reached the covert blogger for an interview.

TMD: To start, can you explain a little bit about how you’ve been corresponding over the Internet for the last weeks? I know there are times when outbound communications are shut down, and I would expect that dial up Internet access creates for frustrating situations when trying to get information out there. Are you being monitored while on the Internet at all, or are there certain times when you are able to be online, uncensored?

RFN: At exactly 10:00am on Feb 1, the King’s address to the nation was broadcasted by the state-run radio and television. And, by the time, the half-an-hour speech ended, all the inbound and outbound calls were closed. Later I heard that army personnel went to each ISPs and shut down the servers and told them not to run it until further orders.

The telephone was open for a few minutes everyday at random time but with out international calls but no internet. The internet and phone started running as usual after a week and since then working fine without any problem. I don’t know if its being monitored or not but my query to the ISP was answered in negative.

During the time, the only way to communicate to outer world was the satellite phones which very less people own. And embassies and UN offices let journalists (I don’t know about others) to use internet using their V-SAT.

TMD: Also regarding the Internet, are you able to read most websites, but not have access to self-publishing tools such as blogs and whatnot?

RFN: Internet is working fine. I can do anything on the internet, there [are] no restrictions besides in some websites which were banned before the coup like www.cpnm.org which is of the Maoists.

TMD: How about telecommunications - are outbound and inbound telephonecalls up and running at all times in Nepal at this time? Are there restrictions placed on these, as well?

RFN: Telecommunications are running well. There are no restrictions [on] inbound and outbound calls.

However, cellular mobile services have been closed downed and landline telephone service of private telephone company, United Telecom, has been down.

Via BoingBoing

Nepal is has been in a state of media blackout since the King dismissed the elected parliament and established his own fiat government. Information leaking out of the country suggests that this “royal coup” may have been accompanied by more brutal forms of repression. Notably, when land line telephone service was restored, mobile [...]