Dhaka: Bangladesh overnight enforced a ban on video sharing website YouTube to block the controversial film Innocence of Muslims angering Muslims across the globe.
“We have decided block the film in consultation with the government,” a Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) official told Gulf News on Tuesday.
The official, however, added that works were still underway to enforce the block so the film could not be seen anywhere in Bangladesh without affecting other internet services.
The regulatory body official, preferring, preferring anonymity, said the move came as Google US and the Google APAC that controls YouTube facility across Asia pacific region were yet to respond to a Bangladesh request to block the film themselves.
The development came a day after Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina said steps were underway stop scopes of projecting or viewing of the film anywhere in the country.
Hasina yesterday strongly condemned the making of the anti-Islamic film by a US producer and urged the US government to immediately stop sale and projection of the controversial film.
“No Muslim can tolerate such defamation of Prophet (PBUH),” she said also asking the US authorities to expose to exemplary punitive actions against the filmmaker for demeaning Islam’s prophet (PBUB).
Islamic groups and organisations staged street protests in the Bangladesh capital demanding punishment of the filmmaker and chanting ani-US slogans prompting authorities to enforce an intensified security vigil around the US embassy and other US establishments in Dhaka.
In the wake of the protests, the video clip was removed from YouTube domains covering India, Egypt and Lybia. The Afghan government has blocked YouTube while Indonesia has also written to Google for withdrawing the video clip.
