YouTube row gives taste of hate film

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Pakistani efforts to block a YouTube video trailing a controversial new film about the Quran are likely just a taste of the hornets' nest it will stir up.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, the nation's telecom regulator, Friday ordered Internet service providers there to block access to the YouTube trailer, advertising a forthcoming short film about the Quran being made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Wilders' 10-minute film "Fitna" ("ordeal" in Arabic), which he plans to release next month, will show how the Muslim holy book "is an inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror," he said recently.

A statement from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority said the decision to block YouTube was taken following a meeting of senior officials from several Pakistani ministries, including telecommunications, information and broadcasting, interior and religious affairs.

The statement called the trailer "highly provocative and blasphemous," adding that it "absolutely stands against the values of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence," and was "arousing deep anguish and distress across the Muslim world."

They had blocked the site, they concluded, to forestall riots causing "more unrest and possible loss of life and property across the country."

By Monday, YouTube had removed the video, saying it had violated the site's terms of use, which include a prohibition on "hate speech," defined as "speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity."

A YouTube spokesman did not respond to a request for an interview, and the company has in the past said it would not comment about decisions to remove material for terms of use violations.

Anonymous officials from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority told several new outlets they had also sought to cut off access to other Web sites showing the controversial Danish newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. They were originally printed in 2006 but were reprinted by some European newspapers last week.

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor