State television announced Tuesday that the decision was made "in order to prevent the recurrence of racial and religious riots."
The magazine's cover carries a photo of a Buddhist monk, Wirathu, with the words "The Face of Buddhist Terror." Wirathu is a leader of a radical movement of monks that preaches that the country's small Moslem minority threatens racial purity and national security. He has called for restrictions on marriages between Buddhists and Moslems, and for boycotts of Moslem-owned businesses.
Nearly 250 people have died and tens of thousands, mostly Moslems, have fled their homes in religious violence in the past year. Buddhist mobs have marched through villages burning houses and mosques and brandishing machetes and clubs.