Newspaper editors in Morocco expressed serious concern Sunday at a 545,000-euro libel award against the independent daily Al Massae for having reported a private party as a `gay marriage`.

An appeal court in Rabat upheld an earlier ruling against editor Rachid Ninni, ordering him to pay six million dirhams (545,000 euros, 695,000 dollars) in damages and a fine of 120,000 dirhams over the libel case.

The Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Editors (FMEJ) expressed `serious reservations` at the ruling, which they had already questioned at the time of the original court judgement.

Thursday`s appeal court ruling concerned the newspaper`s coverage of a party organised in 2007 in the northern town of Ksar El Kebir.

The four plaintiffs, all assistant prosecutors in the town, had filed the suit in February 2008 because the newspaper had described one of them as a homosexual, though without naming him.

The plaintiffs considered that they had all been libeled in the report.

The FMEJ statement expressed their opposition to `disproportionate and excessive` libel awards, called for a reform of the country`s press code, and for courts specialised in press matters to ensure fairer trials.

Paris-based media watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned the judgement in a statement issued on Thursday and also called for an overhaul of the laws on press offences.

RSF said in its 2008 report on Morocco that since King Mohammed VI came to power in 1999, 34 media outlets had been censored and 20 journalists jailed.