Lahore High Court orders ban on Facebook over caricatures (Pakistan)

[Robb]

Source: DAWN (Pakistan)

LAHORE: A Pakistani court Wednesday ordered authorities to block Facebook in the country over a page encouraging users to post caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) on the site.

Thousands of members of the social networking site have launched an online campaign demanding a boycott of Facebook over the offending page. The depiction of any prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam as blasphemous and Muslims across the world staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in European newspapers in 2006.

A Facebook user set up a page called “Draw Mohammed Day”, allegedly inviting people to send in their caricatures of the Muslim Prophet on May 20.

Justice Ejaz Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court directed the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to block Facebook after a group of lawyers moved a petition in the court.

Read more: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-lhc-orders-block-of-facebook-over-caricatures-ss-02