The editor of a left wing weekly newspaper in Nepal, who was arrested earlier this week, has been released, officials said on Thursday.
Kishor Shrestha, editor of the communist newspaper Jana Astha (People's Faith), was detained at his office in Kathmandu on Tuesday evening.
"Shrestha was released late Wednesday evening," said Gopal Budhathoki, general secretary of the Press Forum of Nepal.
The Press Forum had issued a statement denouncing Shrestha's arrest and demanding his immediate release.
It was not clear why he had been detained, but since the government declared a state of emergency in November to combat a Maoist rebellion, several journalists have been arrested.
Under emergency rules, the government has warned the media not to publish anything that could "encourage" the rebels in their fight for a communist republic.
The restrictions were imposed after the Maoists broke a four-month ceasefire with the government on November 24 by launching a string of attacks on the security forces.
More than 2,300 people have been killed since the rebels launched their insurgency in 1996. Bureau Report