Pakistan orders anti-Islam video block on YouTube

Pakistan orders anti-Islam video block on YouTube

“Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has proactively blocked and vigorously preventing all access to anti-Islamic video placed on worldwide web via YouTube with the name of ‘Innocence of Muslims’,” it said in a statement. – File photo.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday blocked access to an anti-Islam film as security measures beefed up around US diplomatic missions, following attacks on American consulates and embassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen.

The Afghan government earlier ordered an indefinite ban on the entire YouTube video sharing site to prevent access to the film made in the United States, which Kabul said was offensive to Muslims.

“Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has proactively blocked and is vigorously preventing all access to the anti-Islamic video placed on the worldwide web via YouTube with the name of ‘Innocence of Muslims’,” it said in a statement.

It said “the authority is in close liaison with all the service providers for immediate blocking of the provocative video”, adding that “proactive monitoring and blocking is being done, round the clock”.

The PTA, which is the main regulatory authority, is mandated to block blasphemous and pornographic websites.

“Websites which contain offensive, objectionable and obnoxious material are blocked on the direction of the government as per mandated protocols,” said the statement.

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, Wahaj us Siraj, told AFP that the ISPs have blocked all the URLs with the film.

“We have fully implemented orders of the PTA and will make sure that the film is not accessible to anyone in Pakistan,” Siraj added.

Pakistan’s government said the “abominable” production was designed to stoke inter-faith hatred around the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, while Afghan authorities condemned the film as “inhuman and insulting”.

“We have beefed up the security for the possible threats to the US embassy,” Khurram Rasheed, a senior Pakistani police official responsible for diplomats’ security in Islamabad, told AFP earlier Thursday.

“We expect some protests against the embassy tomorrow and we are preparing to handle that,” he said.

Riots this week erupted over the film in Libya, where a mob stormed the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing US ambassador Christopher Stevens and several other staff members.

There were also anti-US protests in Egypt’s capital Cairo and on Thursday a crowd stormed the American embassy complex in the Yemeni capital Sanaa before being driven out by police.

The low-budget movie, entitled “Innocence of Muslims”, portrays followers of the faith as immoral and gratuitously violent.

The film has been promoted by controversial US pastor Terry Jones, who has drawn protests for previously burning the Quran and vehemently opposing the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.

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YouTube Blocks Video Inciting Violence in Mid-East

YouTube has elected to leave the video on its website, saying it doesn't violate its policies, but has blocked access to it in Egypt and Libya

AFP/Getty Images

Egyptian protesters tear down the US flag and wave various black Islamic flags at the US embassy in Cairo on September 11, 2012 during a demonstration against a film deemed offensive to Islam. Thousands of angry Egyptian demonstrators protested against the film made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a "cancer" as an armed mob attacked the US mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi killing an official. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/GettyImages)

YouTube has blocked a video attacking Islam's prophet Muhammad in Egypt and Libya, where angry protests were sparked by outrage at the video.
       Ultraconservative Muslims enflamed by the video stormed the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and replaced an American flag with an Islamic banner. Later Tuesday evening, protesters in Libya burned down the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, killing the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three members of his staff.

       The 14-minute video is a trailer to an amateurish, low-budget movie titled "Innocence of Muslims,'' which depicts Muhammad as a feckless philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse. Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any manner, let alone insult the prophet.        YouTube has elected to leave the video on its website, saying it doesn't violate its policies, but has blocked access to it in Egypt and Libya. The Google-Inc. video site took the unusual step Wednesday of publicly commenting on the video, a practice it typically eschews.
       "We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions,'' YouTube said in a statement. "This can be a challenge because what's OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video which is widely available on the web is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries. Our hearts are with the families of the people murdered in yesterday's attack in Libya.''
       The video was uploaded on July 2 by a YouTube user going by the name Sam Bacile. After sitting dormant and largely unwatched for two months, it was dubbed into Arabic and excerpts gained airplay on TV networks in Egypt, enraging ultraconservative viewers.
       President Barack Obama on Wednesday condemned the attack in Benghazi and ordered increased security to protect American diplomatic personnel around the world. He pledged to ``bring justice to the killers who attacked our people.''
       "We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,'' said Obama. ``But there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence, none.''