| The blocking
of YouTube comes a day after a Pakistani court
blocked Facebook amid a growing row over a
competition on the social networking website
to design cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Plans for the "Everybody Draw Mohammed
Day" contest drew an angry reaction,
provoking street demonstrations in the Muslim
majority country.
Yesterday the Lahore High Court responded
to a petition by the Muslim Lawyers Movement,
ordering Pakistan's internet regulator to
block the entire site.
Users lost access to Facebook about two hours
later.
Rai Bashir, a lawyer involved in the case,
said the site was blasphemous.
"There are so many insults to the Prophet
on the internet and that's why we felt we
had to bring this case," he said.
"All Muslims in Pakistan and the world
will be supporting us."
The Facebook contest was based on an idea
by Seattle-based artist Molly Norris, who
posted a cartoon on her website of a chair,
cotton reel, cherry and other items each claiming
to be Mohammed.
However, she said her idea was only ever a
spoof. It was meant as a protest against censorship
of the television show South Park, she said.
The US cartoon recently featured the Muslim
prophet dressed in a bear suit.
She added that she was horrified that her
satire had been turned into a Facebook competition.
The Pakistani Telecommunications Authority,
which is in charge of internet access said
it had chosen to block YouTube because certain
people were using the world’s most popular
video-sharing site to upload the Facebook
images of Mohammed – which many Muslims
found blasphemous.
A YouTube spokesperson:
"We have received reports that the Pakistan
Telecommunications Authority has ordered Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) in Pakistan to block
access to YouTube. We are looking into the
matter and are working to ensure that the
service is restored as soon as possible."
It is widely considered offensive to visually
depict the Muslim prophet. The Koran does
not explicitly forbid images of Mohammed,
but a number of hadith, or interpretations
of the Islamic holy book, forbid figural representations.
The Lahore court ordered Facebook to be blocked
until May 31 – after the date of the
contest – when a longer hearing is expected.
It is not the first time Pakistanis have reacted
angrily to depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the
streets in 2006 when cartoons, which had originally
been published in a Danish newspaper, were
reprinted around the world.
Five people died when the demonstrations turned
violent.
Two and half million Pakistanis have Facebook
profiles and approximately 20 million people
are internet users.
Reference:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7745782/YouTube-blocked-in-Pakistan.html
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