Pakistani Sunni Muslim burn U.S. and Norwegian flags during a protest in Lahore . (Reuters)
By AGENCIES
Published: May 20, 2010 23:54 Updated: May 20, 2010 23:54
WASHINGTON: An American cartoonist whose work inspired the outrageous page about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on Facebook has condemned the effort and issued an apology to Muslims.
Molly Norris, of Seattle, drew a cartoon in April to protest the decision by the US television channel Comedy Central to cancel an episode of the popular show "South Park" over its offensive depiction of the Last Prophet.
In her cartoon, Norris satirically proposed May 20 as day to draw profane cartoons about the Prophet. The page quickly turned up on Facebook but Norris, writing on her website at mollynorris.com, said she had nothing to do with it.
She said her idea was satire but "was taken seriously, hijacked and made viral." "I never started a Facebook page; I never set up any place for people to send drawings to and I never received any drawings," she said.
"I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this 'day' be called off," she said.
The outrageous page has led to Facebook being blocked in Pakistan and sparked angry protests and condemnation from the Foreign Ministry, which denounced the "publication of blasphemous caricatures of our Holy Prophet."
A rival Facebook page started to oppose the caricature page had drawn some 100,000 fans.
Meanwhile, Pakistan blocked YouTube and many other Internet sites on Thursday in a widening crackdown on online content deemed offensive to Islam, reflecting the government's sensitivities to an issue that has ignited protests in the Muslim country. Several thousand activists protested in three cities against the drawings and denounced the West in an expression of outrage that sparked comparisons with riots across the Muslim world in 2006 over drawings published in European newspapers.
"We are ready to die protecting the honor of our beloved Prophet Muhammad," said Aysha Hameed, one of 1,000 women protesters in Multan city.
Pakistan's Internet service providers' association said usage had dropped by about 25 percent since Wednesday.
"Such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world and cannot be accepted under the garb of freedom of expression," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said.
The telecommunications authority did not say what material on YouTube prompted it to block the site and more than 450 other unidentified pages, only citing "growing sacrilegious contents." Wahajus Siraj, the head of the Internet service providers' association, said the ban was because the Prophet's images were also cropping up on the video-sharing site.
BlackBerry service was halted for around 10 hours as efforts were made to stop mobile access to Facebook. The government acted against Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the offensive material, the telecommunications authority said.
Sweden said Thursday it had closed its embassy in Islamabad for more than two weeks due to the security situation, refusing to say whether any direct threats had been issued against the mission.
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