Pakistan blocks Youtube following anti-Islamic films

Pakistan’s government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies users have posted on the site, an official said.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country’s 70 internet service providers on Friday that the popular site would be blocked until further notice.

The authority did not specify what the offensive material was, but a PTA official said the ban concerned a movie trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who has said he plans to release an anti-Koran film portraying the religion as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.

The PTA official said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocked websites that showed controversial drawings of the Prophet Mohammed. The drawings were originally printed in European newspapers in 2006 and were reprinted by some papers last week.

The PTA urged web users to write to YouTube and request the removal of the objectionable movies, saying authorities would stop blocking the site once that happened.

Pakistan is not the only country to have blocked access to YouTube.

In January, a court in Turkey blocked the website because some video clips allegedly insulted the country’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal to insult Ataturk in Turkey.

Last spring the Thai government banned YouTube for about four months because of clips seen as offensive to Thailand’s revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Moroccans were unable to access YouTube last year after users posted videos critical of Morocco’s treatment of the people of Western Sahara, where Morocco took control in 1975.