Banning the E-Messenger
Following Pakistan's ban on Facebook last week, Bangladesh has become the second country to block the popular social networking site due to "objectionable" representations of the Prophet Muhammad and national political leaders.
Following Pakistan’s ban on Facebook last week, Bangladesh has become the second country to block the popular social networking site due to “objectionable” representations of the Prophet Muhammad and national political leaders.
The ban, sparked in part by protests in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, is expected to be temporary.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…Reuters:
Bangladesh has blocked the Facebook social networking site because of “objectionable” materials it contained about the Prophet Mohammad and the country’s political leaders, a telecoms regulatory official said on Sunday. The government move followed publication of caricatures of the Prophet deemed hurtful to the religious sentiments of the country’s majority Muslim population, the official said. He said the ban, imposed late on Saturday, was expected to be temporary.
Facebook was barred last week by a court in Pakistan, also overwhelmingly Muslim, because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad. The video sharing website YouTube was blocked for a time.
Publications of similar cartoons in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked violent protests in Muslim countries. Around 50 people were killed in 2006 demonstrations over the cartoons.
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