CAIRO (AP) — A Cairo court on Saturday ordered the government to block access to the video-sharing website YouTube for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world.

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered YouTube blocked for carrying the film, which he described as "offensive to Islam and the Prophet (Muhammad)." He made the ruling in the Egyptian capital where the first protests against the film erupted last September before spreading to more than 20 countries, killing more than 50 people.

The ruling however can be appealed, and based on precedent, might not be enforced. A spokeswoman for YouTube's parent company, Google, said in a statement that the firm had "received nothing from the judge or government related to this matter."

The 14-minute trailer for the movie "Innocence of Muslims" portrays Islam's Prophet Muhammad as a religious fraud, womanizer and pedophile. It was produced in the United States by an Egyptian-born Christian who's now a U.S. citizen.

Egypt's new constitution includes a ban on insulting "religious messengers and prophets." Broadly worded blasphemy laws were also in effect under former President Hosni Mubarak prior to his ouster in a popular revolt two years ago.

Similar orders to censor pornographic websites deemed offensive have not been enforced in Egypt because of high costs associated with technical applications. Blocking YouTube might be easier to enforce, though it also can be circumvented by active Internet users.

Rights activists say Egypt's ministry of communications and information technology has appeared unwilling to enforce such bans. The Cabinet spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

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. Activists say this has led to a lack of courtroom discussion on technical aspects of digital technology, leaving cases based solely on threats to national security and defamation of religion.

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

Eid, who is executive director at The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said the government should file an appeal and make it clear to judges that, at most, only specific pages on websites should be blocked.

His group released a statement saying that the decision to block YouTube is counterproductive, citing thousands of videos that seek to promote a better understanding of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on the website.

Google declined requests to remove the video from the website last year, but restricted access to it in certain countries, including Egypt, Libya and Indonesia, because it said the video broke laws in those countries. At the height of the protests in September, YouTube was ordered blocked in several countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah issued an order blocking all websites with access to the anti-Islam film in the conservative kingdom.

Lawyer Mohammed Hamid Salim, who filed the case against the Egyptian government, alleged the film constitutes a threat to Egypt's security, adding that YouTube refused to remove the film despite its offensive content. Protesters in Cairo scaled the U.S. Embassy's walls and brought down the U.S. flag in the first demonstration against the film last year.

Two other cases filed against the government and Google are pending in Egyptian courts. One lawsuit calls for a complete ban on Google's search engine and demands the company pay a $2 billion fine.

Last year, an Egyptian court convicted in absentia seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor, who allegedly promoted the film, sentencing them to death on charges linked to the anti-Islam film. The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants were outside Egypt and unlikely to ever face the sentence.

The cases raise concern by some seculars and liberals that Islamist lawyers, emboldened by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups' rise to power, are seeking to curb freedom of speech. However, the most widespread curb occurred under Mubarak when his government blocked all access to the Internet for several days during the 18-day uprising that ousted him from power in an attempt to disrupt communications among activists.

Protests have continued to roil Egypt in the two years since Mubarak was toppled, with the latest bout of violence directed against President Mohammed Morsi's rule. Friday's protests were ignited partly by the apparent torture-death this week of activist Mohammed el-Gindy, whose body showed marks of electrical shocks on his tongue, wire marks around his neck, smashed ribs and a broken skull, according to an initial medical examination and one of his colleagues.

However, on Saturday the justice minister told the state-run Ahram Arabic website that an official medical report showed el-Gindy died in a car accident. The autopsy report was not immediately available.

___

Associated Press Writer John S. Marshall in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Source
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-court-orders-youtube-blocked-month-140531389.html

And so it begins...

JeSoul: And so it begins...

Frontpage?

^sure. I'll send it over the the supermods.

#Hehehe

ok

i watched that movie. it was st.upid but funny at the same time.

"This verdict shows that judges' understanding of technology is weak," Eid said.

Obviously!!

Egyptians dey vex o

These egyptians are revolting and seeking democracy but they forget that freedom of expression and speech is a core part of democracy!! So they better get their act together cause you can't cherry pick democracy!!

Haha

Who's losing? The Egyptians or YouTube? I don't blame the ministry for not enforcing such orders, this goes to show how most judges are biased.

LOL! Morsi definitely instigated this to curtail the sharing of videos by dissenters. We know social media led to the collapse of governments in North Africa. Left to him, he'd ban the internet itself.

Morsi has without doubt had the most turbulent, unenjoyable first 1000 days in office any President has ever experienced. Anyway he deserves it. Very power-hungry, dictatorial motherflipper!

Religion makes a fool of anyone who lets it.

This Judge forgets that Youtube is an important tool for dissemination of ISLAMIC material as well.

Dundee United.

Virgin seekers, islam really a curse to any civilised society

Attack on US shaa.

there's always riot in Egypt... 90% was caused by the government... they need to direct their anger towards themselves and leave youtube alone

Maclatunji aka Morsi is happy!

They love censorship

JeSoul: ^sure. I'll send it over the the supermods.

Thanks so much

off topic;
Nigeria is the giant of Africa.

maclatunji: #Hehehe

Uncle!! I de hail oº°˚!
How market?!

Aboki I de salute o

gramci: Aboki I de salute o

seriously, any government that bans the use of google and/or internet is a serious joker. Actually my convocation speech was 'I'd like to thank google, google and um... google!'

How loving and gracious showing love the Egyptian style Even as the husband you're not permitted to the face of your wife. What love!

Islam never ceases to amaze. Just when you think it couldn't get any hilarious. Then up comes the most bizarre thing. How can you swim with such garb on your body?

MacDaddy01: Maclatunji aka Morsi is happy!

They love censorship

Predictable comment. Education is key for the misled- Freedoms have limitations, I seriously don't know the kind of teaching that is done in secondary schools these days.

Whoever teaches you about 'rights' should also teach you about 'limitations to rights'.

JeSoul: And so it begins...

yea,and so it begins..

gramci: Aboki I de salute o

God bless islam in Jesus name