Morocco's main Islamist opposition group has said that the government had banned local access to its Internet websites.
The Al Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Charity) group launched two websites last August through local providers http://www.aljamaa.org and http://www.yassine.net to communicate with supporters and circumvent an official ban on its activity and publications.
"In the past two weeks, access to our websites has not been possible for our supporters and the Moroccan people due to a technical ban imposed by the authorities to silence our movement," Kamil Yassine, a leading member of the group, told Reuters.
International access was available, however. No government official was immediately available for comment.
The Islamist movement is led by Kamil's father, Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine, 73, who was under house arrest for nearly a decade until a year ago for challenging the Moroccan king's status as Commander of the Faithful.
The socialist-led government last year banned the printing and distribution of Al Foutouwa and Al Adl Wal Ihsane newspapers, two publications of the group.
It also banned so-called "Islamic summer camps", which had developed over the past seven years near the beaches of Tetouan, Nador and Saaidia, on the Mediterranean, and Casablanca and Agadir, on the Atlantic coastline.
The camps, government officials said, promoted prayer and segregation of the sexes instead of leisure – (AFP)
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