Pakistan blocks Twitter for material 'offensive to Islam'
Posted in: Censorship at 21/05/2012 02:59
[AP] Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter on Sunday because it refused to remove material considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.
The material was promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication's Authority. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistan-blocks-twitter-for-material-offensive-to-islam-7769408.html
www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-blocks-twitter-because-of-material-considered-offensive-to-islam/2012/05/20/gIQAFWdlcU_story.html
Also see:
Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Cartoon Contest
The Pakistani government blocked access to the social networking service Twitter on Sunday, after publicly holding Twitter responsible for promoting a blasphemous cartoon contest taking place on Facebook, officials said.
A government spokesman was quoted by local news media as saying that the government had been in talks with Twitter to remove "objectionable" material but that there had been no results.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/world/asia/pakistan-blocks-twitter-over-cartoon-contest.html
Pakistan blocks Twitter amid blasphemy fears
Pakistan's rambunctious Twitter users have been briefly silenced after the government closed the site amid fears blasphemous pictures might be circulated.
Muhammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said the micro-blogging site had been shut down on Sunday after it refused to remove tweets promoting a Facebook page encouraging people to post images of the prophet Muhammad.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/20/pakistan-blocks-twitter-blasphemy-fears
