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Adam Arnold
May 30, 2010, Sky News Online
Bangladeshi authorities have blocked Facebook because of a page urging people to draw pictures of the Prophet Mohammed.
It is the second South Asian nation to ban the social networking website after a move earlier this month by Pakistan.
The new decision by Dhaka was because of a page which urged people to draw images of Islam's Prophet.
Bangladesh said it had temporarily stopped access after Facebook published caricatures that could hurt the religious sentiments of people in the Muslim-majority nation.
Chief telecoms regulator Zia Ahmed said the government had asked local internet service providers to block the objectionable content.
She added that access to Facebook would be restored if the offending material were removed.
Muslims view depictions of the prophet, even favourable ones, as blasphemous.
Pakistani protesters burn Obama effigy as they protest against Facebook
Another official Hasan Mahmud Delwar said the decision to block the site was also down to "obnoxious" pictures of the country's leaders.
He said these included the father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the leader of the opposition.
The country's anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said it had arrested one man over the images of political chiefs.
Senior RAB official Enamul Kabir said the suspect, who used at least six Facebook accounts, has been charged with spreading malice.
Thousands of Muslims have protested in Dhaka over what they called the website's "blasphemous content".
Anti-Facebook demonstration in Karachi, Pakistan
They were angry about a page called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" that encouraged users to post images of the prophet.
But the ban disappointed some Facebook users, estimated by the Bangladesh ISP Association to number nearly one million in a country of 150 million people.
"The government should have stopped the objectionable page rather than blocking the entire site," user Farzan Hasan said.
Pakistan banned access to Facebook, video website YouTube and 1,200 web pages following a row about "blasphemous" content on the internet. Authorities have now restored access to YouTube.
As with Bangladesh, there were protests against Facebook, and demonstrators were seen burning effigies of US President Obama.
