The Innocence of Muslims

A Cairo court has ordered the government to block access to the video-sharing website YouTube for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film. Muslims across the world rioted in protest against the film.

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered YouTube blocked for carrying the film, which he described as offensive to Islam.

The ruling, however, can be appealed and, based on precedent, might not be enforced. Similar orders to censor pornographic websites deemed offensive have not been enforced in Egypt because of high costs associated with technical applications but blocking YouTube might be easier to enforce.

Human rights lawyer Gamal Eid said the decision to ban YouTube stems in large part from a lack of knowledge among judges about how the Internet works:

This verdict shows that judges' understanding of technology is weak. The judges do not realise that one wrong post on a website does not mean you have to block the entire website.

Update: Ban Contested

16th February 2013. See  article from  networkworld.com

Egypt's telecoms censor says it is not viable for it to follow a court order to block YouTube in the country, and is appealing the ruling.

The order banning YouTube and some other websites for 30 days was issued by a Cairo court after it was brought to its notice that there was a proliferation of links to clips of the controversial Innocence of Muslims video, which is said to portray the religious character Muhammad in a derogatory manner.

It appears that YouTube's willingness to censor the video in Egypt did not go far enough for the Cairo Administrative Court, said civil rights groups Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The country's Ministry of Information Technology and Communications and the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority decided after a meeting that to block YouTube would technically affect the use of Google search in Egypt with economic consequences to the country, according to a ministry statement.

The proposed ban on YouTube has also been criticized by the U.S. It's actually not quite clear to us at this moment how and whether that's going to be enforced across Egypt, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: But as a general matter, you know that we reject censorship as a response to offensive speech.

A Cairo tribunal has upheld death sentences passed on seven Egyptian Coptic Christians in absentia for their involvement in the anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims, a judicial source said.

The muslim world descended into violence at protests against the film when it made the news last September.

All of those sentenced to death are film makers who are currently living in the United States. Terry Jones, an American pastor based in Florida who is said to have promoted the film and who had also been sentenced to death in absentia, had his sentence reduced to five years in jail by the tribunal.

An Egyptian activist has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of defamation of religion , a conviction Amnesty International called an outrageous assault on freedom of expression in Egypt.

The court in Cairo found Alber Saber Ayad guilty of disseminating material on the internet that defamed religions. He is expected to be released on a bail of EGP1,000 (US$160) pending his appeal.

Amnesty International considered him to be a prisoner of conscience detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, and had called for his immediate and unconditional release. Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme said:

This is an outrageous verdict and sentence for a person whose only 'crime' was to post his opinions online.

This conviction will ruin his life, whether he serves the sentence or not. The court should have thrown the case out on the first day, yet now he's been branded as having insulted religion.

Alber Saber Ayad was arrested at his home in Cairo on 13 September 2012, after angry groups of men surrounded his house and called for his death, accusing him of heresy and atheism and of promoting the film Innocence of Muslims .

Seemingly a little late of the mark, but perhaps just in time for possible renewed flak from the next controversial film, The Innocent Prophet from the likes of Terry Jones. Anyway UK parliamentarians have called for a ban on the previous controversial film, The Innocence of Muslims

EDM 829: Innocence of Muslims Film

That this House notes the anger of Muslim constituents in response to the online video, The Innocence of Muslims;

• is offended by the vile, Islamophobic slurs it makes about a faith followed by over two billion people worldwide;

• believes that the film constitutes incitement to hatred on the grounds of race and religion;

• further believes that the film itself is of appallingly poor quality;

• and urges the Government to make provision for its banning.

Signed by	Party	Constituency
Campbell, Ronnie	Labour Party	Blyth Valley
Cunningham, Alex	Labour Party	Stockton North
Danczuk, Simon	Labour Party	Rochdale
Dobbin, Jim	Labour Party	Heywood and Middleton
Galloway, George	Respect	Bradford West
George, Andrew	Liberal Democrats	St Ives
Hopkins, Kelvin	Labour Party	Luton North
Lavery, Ian	Labour Party	Wansbeck
McDonald, Andy	Labour Party	Middlesbrough
Meale, Alan	Labour Party	Mansfield
Osborne, Sandra	Labour Party	Ayr Carrick and Cumnock
Wright, Iain	Labour Party	Hartlepool

An actress who claimed she was duped into appearing in the anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims , lost her second legal bid to force the video off YouTube.

Denying a request by actress Cindy Lee Garcia for a court order requiring the popular online video site to remove the 13-minute clip, a federal judge found she was unlikely to prevail on her claims of copyright infringement.

Garcia's lawyer, Cris Armenta, told Reuters she planned to appeal the decision.

The lawsuit claimed copyright on Garcia's performance in the video and accuses Google of infringing on that copyright by distributing the video without her approval via YouTube.

But in his ruling the judge questioned the validity of such a claim. He held that even if she could prove a legitimate copyright interest in her film performance, she effectively relinquished her rights to producers of the film. Fitzgerald also ruled that Garcia failed to show that she would suffer irreparable harm without an injunction.

The California man behind the Innocence of Muslims, the movie that wound up violent thugs in the Middle East, was sentenced to death in absentia in an Egyptian court.

Mark Basseley Youssef was among the seven Egyptian Coptic Christians as was Terry Jones, the Florida-based American pastor associated with burning Korans.

The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, most of whom live in the United States, are all outside Egypt and unlikely to ever serve the sentences.

Egypt's official news agency said the court found the defendants guilty of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information, charges that carry the death sentence.

Singapore's government claimed that it was necessary to take a firm stand against the viewing of the Innocence of Muslims film in Singapore as a matter of principle.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean was responding to a question by an MP who wanted to know what are the reasons for the government's pre-emptive measure of requesting Google to block online access in Singapore to the trailer for the film.

This, especially when Singaporeans of all faiths had responded calmly and there was no disharmony or feelings of ill-will among Singaporeans of different groups.

Teo assured the House that the move was not a censorship of internet content...[BUT]... he explained that the Home Affairs Ministry assessed both the content of the film and its possible impact in determining the request to block the trailer.

Teo explained that such decisive actions assure the public that the government will act whenever the line is crossed, and there is no need for affected groups to respond in inappropriate ways.

Teo noted the protests came very close to Singapore, with incidents reported in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

A court in Moscow has ruled that the anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims, can no longer be shown in Russia.

Tverskoi court's ruling follows a similar local decision taken last week by a court in Grozny, the provincial capital of Russia's Muslim-dominated province of Chechnya.

In Moscow, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said the film was deemed extremist because it could incite ethnic and religious hatred.

The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted mufti Shafig Pshikhachev, head of the Coordination Center of Muslims in the North Caucasus, as saying:

This is a positive step in defense of believers. Unfortunately, we are witnessing such events regularly, so I think the adoption of a law is good. We need a legal method of protecting the faithful and our holy places.

Iran has said it will boycott the 2013 Oscars to protest against the making of Innocence of Muslims.

Despite extensive censorship and the repression of leading film makers, Iranian art cinema has earned international acclaim over the past 20 years. Asghar Farhadi's A Separation won the Oscar for best foreign language film in February, the first Iranian film to do so.

The Iranian Students' News Agency reported that Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini said Iran would boycott the next Academy Awards:

to protest against the making of a film insulting the Prophet and because of the organisers' failure to take an official position (against the film),

He also urged other Islamic countries to boycott the Oscars.

Reza Mirkarimi's dramatic comedy A Cube of Sugar is the sacrificial lamb as it had been chosen as Iran's submission for the 2013 foreign-language Oscar.

The private Summa Telekom firm, which provides Internet access in Russia's mostly Muslim republic of Daghestan in the North Caucasus, has blocked YouTube to prevent access to a controversial film trailer mocking the religious character Muhammad.

Company representatives said on September 22 that the popular video-sharing online resource had been blocked in accordance with a request from law-enforcement officials to prevent viewing the film Innocence Of Muslims.

Russia's prosecutor-general filed a petition last week requesting the movie be qualified as extremist and banned in Russia. Moscow's Tverskoi District Court is scheduled to start hearings on the petition on October 17.

Update: Threats of a ban

28th September 2012. See  article from  voanews.com

Russia's communications minister is threatening to ban YouTube in the country if the popular Internet site doesn't remove a video mocking Islam.

Although Moscow courts have yet to grant prosecutors' request, critics say banning sites is just another way for the Kremlin to clamp down on the opposition in the country, which is home to roughly 20 million Muslims.

The YouTube video mocking Islam is still up and available for viewing in Russia.

Update: Meanwhile In Nigeria

25th September 2012. See  article from  voanews.com

Thousands of Muslims protesters in Nigeria have called for African leaders to censor the anti-Islamic video that has caused protests and riots around the world. The city of Kaduna has been the site of many deadly sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians, but the demonstration was peaceful.

Like in many other cities around the world in recent weeks, thousands of protesters in Kaduna Monday called out God is Great! and Praise to the Prophet! Soldiers surrounded the demonstration and the event ended promptly after the scheduled three hours.

Update: Meanwhile In the Philippines

25th September 2012. From  sunstar.com.ph

A group of Muslims has urged Philippines' Supreme Court to ban the showing of Innocence of Muslims in the country for mocking the religious character Muhammad.

A petition for temporary restraining order was filed by Bangsamoro Nation, a group which supposedly represents the sentiments of the seven to 10 million Muslims in the Philippines. The petition reads in part:

Muslims cannot allow this kind of insult to their prophet Mohammad and to the Islamic religion in general. Unless the State prohibits the showing of the subject film inimical to the national security, actual or imminent danger of violence shall be expected.

After the full merits of this petition has been considered by this Honorable Tribunal the anti-Muslim film...be forever, permanently and perpetually banned for public exhibition in all kinds of media outlet within (the) Philippines, such as theaters, television and internet with its websites YouTube, Google or any other kind of website.

It added that the government's Information and Communications Technology Office should be directed to ban, prevent and prohibit the continued posting of the film in video-sharing site YouTube, Google or any other website until the Court rules on the merits of the petition.

Update: Banned in the Philippines...Except on YouTube

26th September 2012.  From manilastandardtoday.com

The Philippines' Supreme Court has ordered the Movie Television Review and Classification Board to stop the screening and showing of the anti-Islam movie Innocence of Muslims after a group of Filipino Muslims petitioned against it.

The high court ordered the board to stop the showing of the movie on television and in movie houses.

However, the high court's order does not apply to Google and YouTube.

Update: Banned in Kyrgyzstan

30th September 2012.  From  zeenews.india.com

A Bishkek court ruled the film Innocence of Muslims extremist Sep 21 and banned its screening.

Update: Protest in Karachi

30th September 2012. See  article from  rferl.or

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, in the latest protest against a film deemed anti-Islamic which was privately made in the United States.

The protesters, who included activists from the hard-line Sunni Tehreek organization, marched down the city's main M.A. Jinnah road on September 29 while some trampled on the American flag.

Shafiq Ahmad, a senior police officer in Karachi, said there were at least 15,000 protesters while rally organizers claimed millions of people participate

France has banned likely violent street protests against cartoons insulting the religious character of Mohammad that were published by a French satirical magazine this week.

So far imams in mosques have denounced the pictures but have urged their followers to remain calm.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said prefects had orders to prohibit any protest and to crack down if the ban was challenged. There will be strictly no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up, he told a news conference in Marseille.

Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Muslim Council, described both the film and the cartoons as acts of aggression but urged French Muslims not to protest in the streets. I repeat the council's call not to protest. Any protest could be hijacked and counterproductive, he told radio RFI.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there had been anti-French demonstrations in Afghanistan, Egypt and Indonesia, but there were no incidents against French nationals.

Hizbollah warned of very dangerous global repercussions if an anti-Islam film is released in its entirety, as a fatwa was issued against the film's producer who has gone into hiding with his family.

The warning from Hizbollah's Hassan Nasrallah came as the death toll from a week of violence sparked by the movie rose to 19.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of southern Beirut to denounce the film at Nasrallah's request, and the head of the powerful Shiite Muslim group surprised supporters by making a rare public appearance.

Meanwhile In Afghanistan

From au.news.yahoo.com

A female suicide car bomber attacked a van in Kabul on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including eight South Africans, in an assault insurgents said was revenge for an anti-Islam film made in America.

The bombing on a highway to Kabul airport was the second suicide attack in the city in 10 days.

Afghanistan's second largest insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami, claimed responsibility, saying the bombing was carried out by a woman to avenge the Innocence of Muslims film.

The bombing was in retaliation for the insult to our Prophet, spokesman Zubair Sidiqi said in a telephone call to AFP.

Meanwhile Russia considers blocking YouTube

 From english.ruvr.ru

YouTube may become unavailable for Russians over the notorious film Innocence of Muslims posted there.

The Russian Public Prosecutor's Office has recognized the film as extremist and insulting for Muslims. The Public Prosecutor's Office has now registered a claim with a court to forbid the circulation of the film in Russia.

No court decision has been made yet but the Public Prosecutor's Office has already instructed the Public Oversight Commission to take respective steps.

Hopwever the head of the Chair of the Communications Theory of the Journalism Department of Moscow State University Ivan Zasursky believes.

Even if the law allows putting YouTube on the list of sites to be blocked, it is not compulsory to do so. YouTube is a law-abiding company in all countries where it broadcasts. In some Arab countries the film is unavailable. I believe that in Russia it will be unavailable too.

Update: Cast duped

21st September 2012. See  article from  guardian.co.uk

Cindy Lee Garcia, the American actor who appeared in the controversial anti-Muslim film clip that sparked supposed 'outrage' in worldwide protests last week, has failed in a bid to have it removed from YouTube.

Garcia filed the lawsuit on Wednesday citing death threats against her and her inability to visit her grandchildren. Garcia said she was tricked by Nakoula and that the script she saw mentioned neither Muslims nor Muhammad. She called it demoralising and degrading . Garcia became involved when she responded to an advert for a historical Arabian Desert adventure film, the document says. The film was later altered with anti-Islamic voiceovers.

Update: Banned in Brazil

3rd October 2012. From totaltele.com

A Brazilian judge ordered Google to remove versions of an anti-Islam film from YouTube within 10 days.

The National Union of Islamic Entities, or UNI, sued Google's Brazilian unit to remove all versions of the film, called Innocence of the Muslims , that were posted on YouTube, according to court documents.

Judge Gilson Delgado Miranda said in his decision that Google will be fined 10,000 Brazilian reais ($4,926) per day if it doesn't comply with the order.

The judge acknowledged the complexity of the case. He denied UNI's request that Google prevent the video from being uploaded in future, but encouraged UNI to make him aware of new uploads of the controversial film, saying that Google would then have to remove them.

It creates a clear conflict between freedom of expression and the need to protect individuals and groups against protests that could induce or incite religious discrimination, the judge said in his decision.

An Iranian religious group has increased a reward offered for the murder of British author Salman Rushdie after managing to blame him for The Innocence of Muslims film.

Rushdie has no links to the film and he dismissed the latest move as idiotic , but Ayatollah Hassan Sanei of the 15 Khordad Foundation said the film would never have been released had Rushdie been killed after the fatwa was declared.

Sanei increased the reward by $500,000 USD, making the total sum $3.3million USD.

27-year-old atheist activist, Alber Saber was arrested in Cairo, Egypt after he posted the now infamous 14-minute trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims on the Facebook wall of his group, Egyptians.Atheists.

Neighbors in his mostly Muslim community of el-Marg in eastern Cairo gathered in protest outside Saber's home with many calling for his death. According to his mother, one person shouted, Why are we standing down here? Let's go upstairs and get him.

Alber Saber was arrested after his mother called the police out of fear of the crowd outside their home. Saber was arrested under the rarely used law that prohibits insulting religion. He was allegedly thrown in a crowded jail cell and the officer allegedly told those in the cell that Saber had insulted the Prophet Muhammad. There are reports that Saber has been attacked in the jail cell and according to one blog, his neck was slashed with a razorblade.

A Facebook page has been created to demand Saber's release. The Free Alber Saber Facebook page now has 2800 'likes'.

Around 10,000 people participated in a Lahore rally against the YouTube video, The Innocence of Muslims.

The rally was addressed by Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and other influential muslim groups.

Hafiz Saeed ludicrously claimed that the film, Innocence of Muslims , had been produced with the backing of US establishment.

He said the director, the producer and all those involved in the production and release of the movie must be hanged publicly and that:

The US must make a law against blasphemy -- or we will not let the US consulates in Pakistan function.

He said a resolution condemning the movie in the parliament was not enough. Instead, President Asif Ali Zardari must announce jihad against countries like the US that supported attacks on Islam. The Organisation of Islamic Countries Conference should announce a boycott of US goods.

Google lists eight reasons on its YouTube Community Guidelines page for why it might take down a video. Being cited as the cause of riots is not among them. But after the White House warned that a crude anti-Muslim movie trailer had sparked murderous violence in the Middle East, Google acted.

Access to  a 14-minute clip from The Innocence of Muslims was blocked in Egypt, Libya, India, Indonesia and Afghanistan.

Legal experts and civil libertarians, meanwhile, said the controversy highlighted how Internet companies, most based in the United States, have become global arbiters of free speech, weighing complex issues that traditionally are the province of courts, judges, and occasionally, international treaty.

Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor said:

Notice that Google has more power over this than either the Egyptian or the U.S. government. Most free speech today has nothing to do with governments and everything to do with companies.

...Read the full article

The friends of freedom should not make exceptions because freedom's enemies never do. Admittedly, the trailer for Innocence of Muslims (one of its many titles) makes the temptation to allow just one exception close to overwhelming. It advertises an amateur and adolescent piece of religious propaganda that depicts Muhammad as a violent and lascivious fool. Copts probably made it. As there is no great difference between Christian and Islamist extremists, why not intervene in this clash of fundamentalisms and stop one sect inciting another sect to violence?

...Read the full article

An Israeli filmmaker based in California went into hiding Tuesday after his movie attacking Islam's religious character Muhammad sparked angry assaults by extremist Muslims on U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya, where one American was killed.

Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, writer and director Sam Bacile remained defiant, saying Islam is a cancer and that he intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.

Protesters angered over Bacile's film opened fire on and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing an American diplomat. In Egypt, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and replaced an American flag with an Islamic banner.

The two-hour movie, Innocence of Muslims, cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors, said Bacile, who wrote and directed it.

The film claims Muhammad was a fraud. An English-language 13-minute trailer on YouTube shows an amateur cast performing a dialogue of insults in the form of revelations about Muhammad.

The full film has been shown once, to a mostly empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year, said Bacile.

Update: Uncensored by Google

13th September 2012. See  article from  in.reuters.com

YouTube, the video website owned by Google Inc, will not remove the film clip that has caused murderous anti-U.S. protests in Egypt and Libya, but it has blocked access to it in those countries.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed by gunmen in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday.

The U.S. ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them, an official in Benghazi told Reuters.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, Google officials rejected the notion of removing the video on grounds it did not violate YouTube's policies, but restricted viewers in Egypt and Libya from loading it due to the special circumstances in the country. Google said:

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.

Update: Blocked in Afghanistan

13th September 2012.  See  article from  telegraph.co.uk

The Afghan government on Wednesday banned YouTube from the country to prevent people from watching the anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims.

Following instructions by the ministry of information and culture, the ministry of communication has ordered all service providers to block YouTube access, communications ministry official Aimal Marjan told AFP. He said the block had been ordered until YouTube removes this abusive film .

The Afghan presidency earlier condemned the film as inhuman and insulting, calling for it not to be broadcast.

Update: Violence Spreads

14th September 2012. See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

Emergency plans are in place to evacuate UK diplomats and their families following a second day of violence in the Middle East.

Protests over an anti-Islam film saw the US embassy in Yemen stormed by a mob numbering in the thousands.

The unrest has spread to Yemen, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia.

In Tehran, groups chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans staged a protest outside the Swiss embassy which represents US interests in Iran.

And in Iraq, demonstrations spread from Baghdad to the second city of Basra with the leader of one Islamist militia warning the film will put all American interests in danger .

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has called for nationwide protests today to denounce the film. Up to 70 were injured in a third day of protests yesterday at the US embassy in Cairo with some demonstrators demanding the ambassador's expulsion.

Update: Google Asked to Consider censorship

15th September 2012. See  article from  latimes.com

US Administration officials have asked YouTube to review a controversial video that many blame for spurring a wave of anti-American violence in the Middle East.

The administration flagged the 14-minute Innocence of Muslims video and asked that YouTube evaluate it to determine whether it violates the site's terms of service, officials said Thursday. The video, which has been viewed by nearly 1.7 million users, depicts Muhammad as a child molester, womanizer and murderer -- and has been decried as blasphemous and Islamophobic.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sharpened her criticism of the film that led to the protests. She called the film disgusting and reprehensible -- but said that the U.S. would never stop Americans from expressing their views, and that the movie is no excuse for violence, according to reports from the Associated Press.

YouTube declined comment on the administration request.

Update: Violence Spreads

15th September 2012. See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

As a wave of anti-American riots erupts across the Islamic world, Muslims' U.S. flag burning protests spread to Britain.

Elsewhere British diplomats were in fear for their lives, with staff at the embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, locking themselves in as 5,000 angry demonstrators raged and lit fires in an attack on the German embassy next door.

In London, 150 protesters marched on the US embassy chanting burn burn USA as the American flag went up in flames, soon joined by the Israeli flag.

In violence elsewhere, the number of dead and wounded grew. In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli police began shooting, killing one man, after a mob set fire to a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise and an American restaurant. Another 25 were wounded in the chaos.

In Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, 2,000 protesters set off for the US embassy, only to be stopped short by national security forces firing live rounds, killing one man and leaving 15 injured.

In the Tunisian capital Tunis, several thousand demonstrators threw stones at the US embassy and set fire to cars, before being fought off with tear gas and gunfire. Three were reportedly killed.

In Damascus, Syria, a 200-strong crowd demonstrated outside the US embassy -- although it was abandoned in February because of the country's bloody civil war.

Update: Violence in Niger

17th September 2012. See  article from  bangkokpost.com

Several Christian leaders are being held in protective custody in Niger after demonstrators angry at an anti-Islam film ransacked a major Catholic church, a local journalist said.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the cathedral in Niger's second city of Zinder after Friday prayers, and set fire to US and British flags, a local priest and the journalist told AFP:

After Friday prayers, hundreds of protesters broke down the door of the church and totally trashed it, before setting fire to all the documents and breaking a statue of the Virgin Mary.

The Islamic Council of Niger, the highest religious body in the mainly Muslim country, condemned the US-made film that has triggered protests across the Arab and Muslim world, but also appealed for churches to be spared.

Update: YouTube Blocked in Pakistan

17th September 2012. See  article from  indexoncensorship.org

Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has reportedly ordered the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block YouTube after the video-sharing website failed to remove a controversial anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims. Blasphemous content will not be accepted at any cost, Prime Minister Ashraf is reported to have said. Earlier today officials said over 700 links to the film on YouTube were blocked following orders issued by the Supreme Court.

Update: Filmmaker in Hiding

17th September 2012. See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

The family of a filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie has left their California home in the middle of the night to join the man in hiding.

A spokesman with the LA County Sheriff's Department said that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's relatives, each with his or her face covered, left their Cerritos home about 3:45am on Monday.

Deputies gave them a ride and they were reunited with Nakoula, then taken to an undisclosed location.