Published comments on the King and Islam are restricted

Ali Lamrabet's sentence was however reduced from four to three years.

His case is being seen as a test case for press freedom.

He has been on hunger strike for more than a month and was too weak to attend the court hearing.

Last week, his lawyer said he was "near death" after losing 22kg.

Magazines banned

Mr Lamrabet, who is diabetic with a heart condition, has recently started to drink water again for his medication.

He is the Moroccan representative of the international journalists' organisation, Reporters Without Borders.

Lamrabet is getting weaker by the day

He has dual French-Moroccan nationality and his Paris-based brother has asked President Jacques Chirac to intervene, reports the French news agency, AFP.

The court also upheld a ban on Mr Lamrabet's two satirical weeklies, Demain and Doumane and a fine of 20,000 dirhams ($2,350).

"Again, Moroccan justice shows that it cannot protect public freedoms in this country," his lawyer Abderrahim Jamai told Reuters news agency.

He was sentenced in May to four years in prison for "insulting the king's person" and "undermining [Morocco's] territorial integrity" in recent articles and cartoons.