Tony,
On the
"How to change light seals in Hasselblad film magazines" page on Hasselblad Historical, there is a picture (the second in the grey background "Instructions" section) that shows the 'mechanism' (a Big Word for the simple thing it is) that blocks the release button when the slide is not in.
It is the spring "C" points to. The pin on the release button slider is blocked (or should be) by the upper part of spring "C" (not the official name, of course).
When the slide is inserted fully, it pushes the curved hook at the end of spring "C", pushing it up, allowing the pin on the release slider to slide in the channel in spring "C".
Perhaps that upper pin on spring "C" is bent, or even broken off. Or perhaps it's the pin on the release slider.
But you can know for sure what's wrong when you take face plate off and have a look.
So follow the instructions on that page and do take the face plate off the magazine. It's easy, but you need to keep an eye out for parts pointed to by "B", "C" and "D". They could - though normally don't, but could - drop out.