A Moroccan appeals court on Tuesday jailed eight unemployed youth activists from the February 20 protest movement for up to six months for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration

A Moroccan appeals court on Tuesday jailed eight unemployed youth activists from the February 20 protest movement for up to six months for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration, a rights group said.

Four of the activists were sentenced to six months and the other four to three months, by the court in the coastal city of Agadir, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said.

The court reduced earlier sentences of between eight and 10 months in jail.

The activists were arrested on 29 September, a day after protesting in the impoverished town of Sidi Ifni, 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Rabat, said Abdallah Idrissi, who heads the local branch of the AMDH.

Among those jailed on Tuesday were Zine El Abidine El Radi and Abdallah El-Hehi, both in their 20s, who were both members of the AMDH, according to the rights group.

Morocco introduced constitutional reforms last year in a bid to contain Arab Spring protests that erupted in the North African country, as similar unrest toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

The reforms helped contain the unrest, with a new government sweeping to power in snap elections in November 2011, on the back of promises to battle corruption and social inequality.

But a year on, there is widespread frustration at the slow pace of reform.