Pakistan lawyers seek Facebook ban

• Tweet

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 22 (UPI) -- Shortly after the Pakistani government briefly banned Twitter, a case has been filed against Facebook, for "blasphemous" content.

Rao Abdur Rahim, one of the complainants, said authorities had been informed last July of "blasphemous" content posted on Facebook as well as other sites, largely from users within Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.

Press Trust of India reported Tuesday a First Information Report had been filed against Facebook and three other Web sites in response to a complaint filed by the Namoos-e-Risalat Lawyers Forum.

"Concerned government officials, Pakistan Telecom Authority and police were requested to take action but they did not pay attention, therefore, Islamabad District Bar on July 27, 2011, filed a complaint for the registration of a [First Information Report] but no action was taken," Rahim said.

The lawyers forum also sought sanctions Payam TV and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, accusing the embassy of "organizing a gathering of gays and lesbians."

Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti denied the application against the U.S. Embassy. Rahim said he would petition the high court for a report against the embassy.

CNN reported access to Twitter was blocked for 12 hours Monday on "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day," an Internet event started in 2010 in defense of artists threatened for creating likenesses of the prophet Mohammed, prohibited largely by Sunni Islam. The event started with one picture and was rapidly followed by several drawings posted by users across several social media platforms.

The event was also in response to a decision by Comedy Central to pull an episode of "South Park" that depicted Mohammed. The show's creators received death threats from the group Revolution Islam in response to a previous episode depicting Mohammed.