Rights activists on trial in Morocco

A group of human rights activists has gone on trial in Morocco accused of holding an illegal demonstration.

They were arrested after staging a sit-in to press for an investigation into past abuses of human rights.

The protest in Rabat was violently broken up by the police.

A lawyer Abdeslam Chaouch said the thirty-six accused -- who all belong to the independent Moroccan Human Rights Association -- faced up to three years in jail if found guilty.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service