Friday, June 25, 2010

Eye on Extremism: Facebook founder Might Face Death Penalty

This comes barely a month after Pakistan banned both YouTube and Facebook on similar charges. That ban was later revoked. Pakistan was later followed by Bangladesh who blocked access to Facebook following another instance of blasphemy by a Bangladeshi citizen.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Int'l Desk
Source & Credit:Tech Tree
By Techtree News Staff | June 25, 2010

Just when you thought the troubled times for Facebook had come to a conclusion, here comes some more trouble for the famous social networking website and its founder Mark Zuckerberg.

A Pakistani court is investigating a blasphemy charge against the 26 year old CEO of Facebook in which if convicted, can mean a death penalty for Zuckerberg. Rest assured, he won't be heading towards Pakistan for a vacation for the foreseeable future.


Zuckerberg is being charged under the Pakistani penal code Section 295-C, which goes on to say: "Use of derogatory remark etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet, whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable for fine."

While Zuckerberg had not in his wildest thought of representing the Prophet in a derogatory manner, his website was used to do so - and thereby making him a party to the offence.

While Zuckerberg tries to fend of his legal troubles with the Pakistani Government, there is also news of another Pakistani court asking the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to ban a bunch of "blasphemous" websites including the likes of Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, Google, Amazon and Bing. Two other websites - Islam Exposed and In The Name Of Allah too have been added to the blocked list of websites. This comes barely a month after Pakistan banned both YouTube and Facebook on similar charges. That ban was later revoked. Pakistan was later followed by Bangladesh who blocked access to Facebook following another instance of blasphemy by a Bangladeshi citizen.

What do you think about this latest blanket ban on popular websites by Pakistan? Leave us a comment and let us know.



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