Rabat/Madrid - Morocco has expelled five foreigners on charges of Christian proselytizing in the Muslim country, press reports said Monday.

The five were detained on Saturday in Casablanca, where they were holding a meeting attended by several Moroccans, according to the reports.

Police seized "evangelic propaganda" materials including Arabic-language books, videos and cult objects, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not give the nationalities of the missionaries, but the Spanish daily El Pais said they included four Spanish and one German woman.

The women were taken from Casablanca to Tangier and expelled to the Spanish port of Algeciras, according to the daily.

Only Christians were attending the "communion meeting" in Casablanca, for which reason it could not be regarded as proselytizing, El Pais quoted sources close to the missionaries as saying.

The arrests followed the arrest of several dozen Muslims followers of Shiite Islam in Sunni Morocco.

Observers attributed the detentions to Morocco's diplomatic crisis with Iran, where the Shiite tradition is dominant, over a dispute concerning the sovereignty of Bahrain.

Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran in solidarity with Bahrain after a senior Iranian official described the Gulf state as an Iranian province. Iran later clarified that it respects the sovereignty of Bahrain.

The arrests of the Shiite Muslims and Christians followed an announcement by the interior ministry of a tougher line against "behaviour ... contrary to our religious and moral values."

The announcement had initially been interpreted as referring mainly to homosexuals.

Moroccan law allows Christians and Jews to practise their religion, but prohibits attempts to convert Muslims to other religions.

The north African kingdom has an estimated 2,000 converts to Christianity.

The arrests signalled a change to Morocco's traditional religious tolerance, the daily al-Massae observed. (dpa)