Nepal releases key student leader

Gagan Thapa was arrested in April after weeks on the run

A prominent pro-democracy student leader in Nepal has been freed after a month in detention.

Gagan Thapa of the Nepal Students' Organisation (NSO) was released after the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that his detention was illegal.

The court also ordered the authorities not to re-arrest him.

Student groups have been engaged in protests over the king's dissolution of parliament and assumption of direct power in February.

The king said he took the step because politicians had failed to tackle the country's Maoist insurgency.

Thousands of opposition leaders have been arrested since then.

Although most of them have been freed, a number of others still remain in jail.

Firebrand

The Supreme Court had said Mr Thapa's detention was "against the spirit of the constitution and against the law".

He had been arrested in April after weeks on the run.

Correspondents describe Mr Thapa as a firebrand who used to head the student wing of the country's biggest party, the Nepali Congress.

He has been outspoken in his criticism of the king's coup.

Last week, the authorities freed another prominent student leader, Rajendra Kumar Rai, of a left-wing student group following a similar court order.