The campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Moroccan authorities after a journalist was sentenced to three years in prison for failing to report a security threat.

Hamid El Mahdaoui, a government critic, received a phone call from a man who said he intended to carry out attacks in Morocco.

He didn't alert the authorities, saying that as a journalist he often received calls from strangers and had dismissed it as an empty threat.

Mr Mahdaoui is already serving a one year sentence in connection with an unauthorised demonstration.

HRW has accused the Moroccan authorities of clamping down on the independent media.