New Delhi: Citing the country’s anti-blasphemy laws, Pakistani Law-enforcement agencies are believed to have sought the removal of two Twitter accounts and 27 tweets, including tweets from the French satirical magazine. charlie hebdo and Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
A tweet posted in response to a comment on a tweet by former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti mentioned that “Allah is on Modi’s side”.
A notice in this regard was served to Twitter under “Rule 6(2) (Procedure, Inspection and Protection), Rules 2020 wrt Blasphemous Content” on the “Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content”.
This information is sourced from the Lumen database, a repository of takedown notices hosted by Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
The database does not specify the exact agency that requested the evictions – stating only that the requests came from “law enforcement.” According to the database, Twitter shared the notice with the researchers on July 2, 2022.
It is not uncommon for social media platforms such as Twitter to voluntarily share takedown notices received from government entities with Lumen in order to allow access to these notices to researchers and journalists.
Twitter has blocked the said content in Pakistan.
This means that if your location setting is Pakistan, attempting to view these tweets will prompt a disclaimer that reads: “This tweet by ***** has been blocked in Pakistan in response to a legal demand. “
But the content in question is still visible in India.
Read also: Christian mechanic in Pakistan dies for ‘blasphemy’, says ‘Jesus is supreme’
charlie hebdo
One of the tweets that Pakistan agencies have reportedly asked to be removed is from 2011 charlie hebdo — Controversial for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, depicted in pictures considered prohibited among Muslims.
The tweet featured a magazine cover photo with a caricature. In all, Pakistan has asked Twitter to remove five tweets. charlie hebdoAll of which are in French, according to Lumen’s figures.
One of the tweets, from 2020, is caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad first published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 and republished in 2006. charlie hebdo, When translated, the video in the tweet appears to imply some Muslims taking offense to the caricature and attacking the magazine’s office in Paris in 2015.
charlie hebdoThe U.S. office was attacked by terrorists on 7 January 2015, who killed 12 employees, including its then editor Stéphane (“Charb”) Charbonnier. In 2020, a secondary school teacher was beheaded in a French suburb, allegedly reprinted to show his students caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. charlie hebdo,
“These pictures now belong to history”, says the video in the tweet.
‘Dutch Trump’
It is learned that Pakistani agencies have also asked Twitter to remove five tweets of Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
far-right politicians, often comparison Former US President Donald Trump has in the past sought to ban the Quran and impose a tax on it Hijab (headscarf) In the Netherlands. He was in news only last month With Nupur Sharma He was suspended as BJP spokesperson due to his controversial remarks on Prophet.
One of the tweets from December 2019 posted a caricature with the hashtag “Muhammad”.
At least two other tweets posted in 2020 and 2016 contained derogatory comments and depictions about the Prophet Muhammad.
In addition to the removal of three tweets by this Twitter user, the requests demand the suspension of the handle ‘@TheHarrisSultan’, which describes itself as an “ex-Muslim”, “atheist” and a “free speech activist”, and nearly 22,000 followers.
Tweets flagged on Twitter by @TheHarrisSultan include a reply to a comment on a post by Mehbooba Mufti from October 2019.
The comment on Mufti’s post read: “May Allah save our brother and sister in Kashmir”. that Allah was “on Modi’s side” one of the options Given by @TheHarrisSultan because he wants to explain why he thought nothing helped.
The second account that has been requested to be removed is a @Pakistani_Kafir with almost 4,000 followers.
(Edited by Amritansh Arora)