A man has been arrested for allegedly sharing a morphed image on Facebook showing Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli's head superimposed on a monkey's body, police said. Homnath Sigdel, 44, was arrested yesterday for "sharing the indecent photograph that aimed at the prime minister's character assassination", a senior police officer said.

The morphed image appeared on a Facebook group earlier this month and has been shared for more than 2,600 times. Police said that Sigdel had also posted a second photo of Oli's head on a naked human body. Sigdel, a village committee's secretary in Bhaktapur district near Kathmandu, could face up to five years in jail or a 100,000 rupee (USD 900) fine or both if found guilty under a provision of the Electronic Transactions Act. The arrest comes days after Nepal introduced a new criminal code that includes draconian laws which the activists have warned could be used to suppress critics of the government.