Youtube has been blocked in Egypt for 30 days in a move to punish the site for hosting a film which labelled the nation ‘anti-Islamic.’ The video-sharing website was ordered to be be blocked from Egypt’s internet IPs by Egyptian Judge Hassouna Tawfiq, saying that the film which was hosted on the site was “offensive to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.”
The 14 minute film titled “Innocence of Muslims” allegedly portrayed Muslim Prophet as a womanizer and pedophile. The short clip was produced by a man who was born in Egypt and now living in the U.S.
Despite the judge’s ruling, an appeal is highly likely, according to reports.
In the past, the country had ordered porn sites and other websites to be banned. However, due to the high costs of actually applying the ban in the country, the rulings have never been carried out.
Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer, told AP: “This verdict shows that judges’ understanding of technology is weak. The judges do not realize that one wrong post on a website does not mean you have to block the entire website.”
He also suggested that an appeal should be made and that the Egyptian government should specify to judges that certain pages be blocked from a site, rather than the entire website.