Moroccan magazine seized over rebel article

Police in Morocco have seized all the copies of a monthly political magazine, which printed an article by a member of the royal family criticising the king and calling for reform of the monarchy.

An official told the Reuters news agency that the Arab-language magazine Wijhat Nadhar had published biassed information.

The issue contained the text of a speech by King Mohammed's cousin, Prince Moulay Hicham, the second-in-line to the throne, who moved to the United States earlier this year to campaign for democracy and economic reforms.

The Moroccan Press Union said the seizure of the magazine was a repressive decision to silence journalists.

It comes the day after the Moroccan parliament approved a controversial new press code, which retained a clause allowing journalists to be jailed for defamation.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service