Moroccan papers remain banned

The supreme court in Morocco has decided it's not competent to rule in the case of three newpapers which were banned earlier this month.

The three weekly papers had appealed against the ban imposed by the Moroccan authorities, who accused them of seeking to destabilise the kingdom.

The BBC correspondent in Rabat says that during their two turbulent years in circulation, the papers Le Journal, Asahifa and Demain had won a huge audience challenging the kingdom's taboos.

But he says their criticism ensured the hostility of the Moroccan government, the army and the monarchy. The editors of the three papers have applied for licences to resume publishing under new names, but complain of delays in bureaucracy.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service