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KATHMANDU, Dec 17 (AFP) - The editor of a leftwing Nepali weekly newspaper, Gopal Budhathoki, was arrested Monday for publishing a speech by a Maoist leader, the president of a local journalists group said.

"Gopal Budhathoki, editor of Sanghu, was arrested Monday evening for publishing an article of Maoist leader Prachand in the Monday issue," Shambhu Shrestha, president of the Press Forum said.

Budhathoki was first questioned at a police station in Maharajgunj, on the outskirts of the capital, and then later at an army barracks, Shrestha said.

No other details about the arrest were available.

The Nepalese government recently appealed to the media not to publish anything that could encourage Maoist rebels in their fight for a communist republic.

The restrictions were imposed after Maoist rebels broke a four-month ceasefire with the government on November 24 by launching a string of attacks on the army and police that have killed as many as 500 people.

The rebels have been fighting for a republic state in Nepal since 1996 and the insurgency has so far claimed the lives of over 2,200 people in Nepal. 

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