Egyptian court upholds Youtube block for anti-Islam video
Because of an anti-Islamic video, the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court has ordered the state telecommunications authority to block the Internet service YouTube for one month. The court thus confirmed an earlier ruling by a lower court on Saturday.
It was not yet clear when the ban would begin. A lawsuit had already been filed in 2012 because of a controversial video in which the Islamic prophet Mohammed is denigrated. In 2013, an Egyptian court imposed a one-month block on the video portal operated by parent company Google, and the state telecommunications authority subsequently appealed the ruling.
The controversial video is a 14-minute sequence from Innocence of Muslims. In it, the Islamic prophet Mohammed is portrayed as a murderer, rapist and womanizer. After the video was released six years ago, violent protests erupted in parts of the Arab world. Several people died, and the German embassy in Sudan and the American embassy in Tunis were set on fire. In Pakistan, Youtube was blocked for three years. (SDA)
