Pakistan court bans Facebook in row over Prophet

[غزالی]

Pakistan court orders Facebook ban



LAHORE: A Pakistani court Wednesday ordered authorities to block Facebook in the country over a page encouraging users to post caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) on the site.



The ban on Facebook came into effect immediately after the court ruling [GALLO/GETTY]
A Pakistani court has issued a ban on the social networking site Facebook after a user-generated contest page encourged members to post caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday instructed the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to ban the site after the Islamic Lawyers Movement complained that a page called “Draw Mohammed Day” is blasphemous.

Sajjad Chaudhry, the presiding judge, instructed officials with the ministry of telecommunications to submit a written reply to the ban by May 31 when courts will open a detailed hearing on the case. A ban is to be enforced in the meantime.

"We have already blocked the URL link and issued instruction to internet service providers,” Khurram Mehran, a spokesperson for the PTA, said.

About 20 people carried banners outside of courthouse in Lahore, condemning Facebook and praising Prophet Mohammed.

Protest

Lawyers also petitioned the Pakistani government to register a strong protest with Facebook’s owners.

"The competition has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims," lawyer Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali said.

Facebook users in Pakistan, however, told AFP they could still access the site after the ban was imposed on Wednesday.

Officials with the Pakistani government told the court they had already blocked Facebook pages relating to the competition, but the lawyers group argued that no part of a site can be banned unless the entire site is blocked.

Pakistan has 45 million Facebook users, according to lawyers.

The Facebook page for "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" had just over 40,000 supporters while the opposing "Against Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" had more than 53,000.

[Abdul Wahid]

A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities temporarily to block the Facebook social networking site.

The order came when a petition was filed after the site held a competition featuring caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

The petition, filed by a lawyers' group called the Islamic Lawyers' Movement, said the contest was "blasphemous".

A message on the competition's information page said it was not "trying to slander the average Muslim".

"We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Muhammad depictions that we're not afraid of them," a statement on the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" said.

"They can't take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us into silence."

The information section of the page said that it was was set up by a Seattle-based cartoonist, Molly Norris.

It contains caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and characters from other religions, including Hinduism and Christianity, as well as comments both critical and supportive of Islam.

'Blasphemous'

Correspondents say that publications of similar cartoons in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked angry protests in Muslim countries - five people were killed in Pakistan.

Already the Pakistani press has reported protests against Facebook on Wednesday by journalists outside parliament in Islamabad, while various Islamic parties are also reported to be organising demonstrations.

Correspondents say that the internet is uncensored in Pakistan but the government monitors content by routing all traffic through a central exchange.

Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court ordered the department of communications to block the website until 31 May, and to submit a written reply to the petition by that date.

An official told the court that parts of the website that were holding the competition had been blocked, reports the BBC Urdu service's Abdul Haq in Lahore.

But the petitioner said a partial blockade of a website was not possible and that the entire link had to be blocked.

The lawyers' group says Pakistan is an Islamic country and its laws do not allow activities that are "un-Islamic" or "blasphemous".

The judge also directed Pakistan's foreign ministry to raise the issue at international level.

In the past, Pakistan has often blocked access to pornographic sites and sites with anti-Islamic content.

It has deemed such material as offensive to the political and security establishment of the country, says the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.

In 2007, the government banned the YouTube site, allegedly to block material offensive to the government of Pervez Musharraf.

The action led to widespread disruption of access to the site for several hours. The ban was later lifted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8691406.stm

[Abdul Wahid]

Alhumdulillah. This is good.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

I think it would be more effective if people would post dawah related things as much as possible on those pages that are maligning our Prophet(saw). What is one day gonna do? Or is it permanently. Aren't we kinda letting them do it in a way by keeping quiet? We can't delete our FB accounts and so I found out they get more money just by our using :S

[Periwinkle18]

its good buh i had really imp things in my facebook inbox now i can't get them Anyways everything happens for our own good Alhumdulillah

[CosmicPathos]

Pakistani courts must ban country's President from running the country first before banning something as idiotic as facebook. There is hope though, at least compared to the sheikhdoms. In the coming decades we would probably see nationalistic Pakistanis colliding with Muslim Pakistanis in one of its greatest civil wars since the 1971 fiasco of East and West Pakistan.

[Periwinkle18]

Pakistani courts must ban country's President from running the country

lolz good one :P

[Rhubarb Tart]

Personally I think Muslims should ignore it. It is us (Muslims) that is not meant to draw Mohammed (pbuh). All over the internet negative and offence things have been written about our prophet so this is nothing new.

Even when Mohammed (pbuh) was alive, there were many people that insulted him in front of him and behind his back. And he did nothing but concentrated on our religion. I think our energy should be spent on bettering yourself and our countries (because there is a lot that need sorting).

Also I think them calling Jesus (pbuh) son of god is far more offensive then a picture of Mohamed. He is our prophet too. And they drew his pictures and did offensive joke on him.

The only reason why there are doing this is because the reaction towards the fascist newspapers in 2005. You do know that they reprinted the picture again in Danish newspaper and many countries followed due to our reaction and some violent reactions.

I just think we should ignore them. This is my opinion and I will ignore them. And it is not facebook fault that group of idiots decided to create a group and number of people joined it is? And there are far more offensive groups insulting our religion on facebook.

[Rhubarb Tart]

And Pakistani needs to sort out their own country. There are known to have several human right abuse against Muslim and non Muslim that live in their country.

[Asiyah3]

Personally I think Muslims should ignore it. It is us (Muslims) that is not meant to draw Mohammed (pbuh). All over the internet negative and offence things have been written about our prophet so this is nothing new.

I agree with this except that we should still strongly condemn it.

Even when Mohammed (pbuh) was alive, there were many people that insulted him in front of him and behind his back. And he did nothing but concentrated on our religion. I think our energy should be spent on bettering yourself and our countries (because there is a lot that need sorting).

I second that.

[aadil77]

Pakistani courts must ban country's President from running the country first before banning something as idiotic as facebook. There is hope though, at least compared to the sheikhdoms. In the coming decades we would probably see nationalistic Pakistanis colliding with Muslim Pakistanis in one of its greatest civil wars since the 1971 fiasco of East and West Pakistan.

I was gonna say that, they should worry more about banning US terrorist forces from carrying out drone attacks across pakistan than just some website

[IslamicRevival]

A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities temporarily to block the Facebook social networking site.

How on earth is 'temporarily deactivating your Facebook account' going to help? It really is pathetic to be quite frank

[Periwinkle18]

i know i mean its stupid why did they ban it in the first place then :P i heard they're going to lift the ban on the 31st

[Abu Zainab]

Personally I think Muslims should ignore it. It is us (Muslims) that is not meant to draw Mohammed (pbuh). All over the internet negative and offence things have been written about our prophet so this is nothing new.

Even when Mohammed (pbuh) was alive, there were many people that insulted him in front of him and behind his back. And he did nothing but concentrated on our religion. I think our energy should be spent on bettering yourself and our countries (because there is a lot that need sorting).

Also I think them calling Jesus (pbuh) son of god is far more offensive then a picture of Mohamed. He is our prophet too. And they drew his pictures and did offensive joke on him.

The only reason why there are doing this is because the reaction towards the fascist newspapers in 2005. You do know that they reprinted the picture again in Danish newspaper and many countries followed due to our reaction and some violent reactions.

I just think we should ignore them. This is my opinion and I will ignore them. And it is not facebook fault that group of idiots decided to create a group and number of people joined it is? And there are far more offensive groups insulting our religion on facebook.

Totally agree...those are sick people...just ignore them. All they want is to spread hatred and create violence....so that later on they can say "see !! we told you......"

[ژاله]

youtube and wikipedia banned as well. i have no problem with facebook getting banned, but youtube and wikipedia?

[cat eyes]

wow! go pakistan! the only people whom are taken action. i cant believe that, this is to much. i was beginning to think i had wrong idea about facbook but now after reading that i dont know what to think. no body cares about respecting other religions anymore. where is the respect gone?? im beginning to hate alot of sites. i dont want to support any site that slanders my religion

[غزالی]

youtube and wikipedia banned as well. i have no problem with facebook getting banned, but youtube and wikipedia?

the action was taken after the authority determined that some sacrilegious caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were transferred from Facebook to YouTube and wikipedia.

[Tilmeez]

Same with youtube!

Weldone Pakistan!! I'm proud of you.

This is a very tiny step but its far better than doning nothing. Full Stop.

[ژاله]

^ i agree.
thanks for explanation bro hafizsaad.

[غزالی]

Facebook Last 2 Days Losses Reach Up to 2 Billions €, If it Will Continue For More 7 Day iT would Reach to €40 Billion Euro

Facebook Revenue From Pakistan

Facebook Earning $11000000000
Facebook Users 4609,221,00
Per User Earning $2.9
Pakistani Users 2349620
Total Revenue From Us $ 5,631,281,29= 461,765,066 Pkr

Facebook Drawn Muhammad (S.W.A) Day, Page Hacked By Turkish Muslim Hackers.

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