Morocco Keeps Website Editor in Jail over Qaida Video

Moroccan authorities have decided to prolong by four days the detention of a news website editor arrested for posting an al-Qaida video, his lawyer said on Saturday.

"Ali Anouzla's detention has been extended by four days by the prosecutor," Naima Guellaf told Agence France Presse.

Anouzla, the director of the Arabic language version of the Lakome website, was arrested at his office in Rabat on Tuesday, where police also seized computer equipment, journalists working at the website said.

His arrest was ordered after Lakome published "a video attributed to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), containing a clear call and a direct incitement to commit acts of terrorism" in Morocco, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

Anouzla risks prosecution under anti-terrorism laws.

His arrest has been denounced by rights groups in and outside Morocco, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, amid calls for his release.

The 41-minute video, posted on the Internet on September 12 by AQIM and entitled "Morocco: the kingdom of corruption and despotism", calls for jihad in the North African country and lashes out at King Mohamed VI, who is pictured being engulfed in flames.