A judge yesterday refused to issue an injunction barring unlicensed Citizens' Radio from broadcasting and ordered a speedy hearing into the constitutionality of the broadcast licensing law.
Mr Justice Michael Hartmann, of the Court of First Instance, said there was no evidence that continued broadcasting by the maverick station posed any danger to public safety, as the government had claimed in seeking the injunction.
The ruling came three days after Mr Justice Hartmann refused to continue a temporary injunction issued on January 10 by another judge, Barnabas Fung Wah.
Citizens' Radio activists Tsang Kin-shing and Leung Kwok-hung welcomed the judgment as a victory.
The next step is the hearing of an appeal by the government against a magistrate's ruling that parts of the Telecommunications Ordinance breach freedom of expression provisions in the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights.
Douglas Yau Tak-hong made the ruling on January 8, dismissing charges of unlicensed broadcasting against Mr Tsang, Mr Leung and others, but suspended it pending the government's appeal.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Hartmann said the government's application for an injunction was unusual and exceptional because, while unlicensed broadcasting was a criminal offence, the secretary for justice had invoked the assistance of the civil courts.