A Cairo court has ordered the government to block access to YouTube for 30 days. The Associated Press reported that the ruling came after an anti-Islam film.
Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered that YouTube be blocked for carrying the film which he said was "offensive to Islam and the Prophet (Muhammad)."
The film which spurred up widespread controversy, "Innocence of Muslims" portrayed Muhammad as a womanizing pedophile and religious fraud and the film was produced in the U.S.
Under Egypt's new constitution it is illegal to insult "religious messengers or prophets." The video brought about widespread protests in September and YouTube was ordered to block the video in several countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
"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," reported The AP.
The protests spread to more than 20 countries killing more than 50 people, reported The Washington Post. Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer said to The Washington Post that the ban is part of a lack of knowledge about how the Internet works by judges.
"This verdict shows that judges' understanding of technology is weak," Eid said to the Washington Post. "The judges do not realize that one wrong post on a website does not mean you have to block the entire website."
Mohmmad Hamid Salim who is the lawyer who filed the case against the Egyptian government, said that the film is a threat to Egypt's security and that YouTube refused to remove the film even though it has offensive content.
"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.
How dealing with risks to the financial system is like mold remediation," reported The Washington Post.
There is concern by some liberals that Islamist lawyers are seeking to stop freedom of speech. When Mubarak was in power, his government blocked access to the Internet for days during an 18-day uprising that shifted him from power.
"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," reported The Washington Post.
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