Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Sunday, Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan was charged under an anti-terror law for maki...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Sunday, Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan was charged under an anti-terror law for making threats against police and a judge. He said that the government temporarily blocked YouTube so that people couldn't watch his speech at a political rally live.
Khan has been giving fiery speeches to crowds all over the South Asian country as he tries to get new elections. He was voted out of power by parliament in April.
The accusation that Youtube blocked Khan's videos came after the electronic media regulator banned the live broadcast of Khan's speeches on Saturday, saying that his "hate speech" against state institutions was the reason.
Khan wrote on Twitter, "Imported government blocked YouTube in the middle of my speech."
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, which is in charge of regulating the internet, didn't respond right away when asked for comment.
Reuters could not reach Khan right away to ask for a comment.
'PROVOCATIVE STATEMENTS'
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said in a statement on Saturday that Khan's speeches were "harmful to the maintenance of law and order and likely to disturb public peace and tranquility."
It said that Khan "constantly" made "baseless accusations" and "spread hate speech" by making "provocative" comments about state institutions.
It stopped news stations from airing his speeches live right away, but made an exception for speeches that had already been recorded.
Khan has said things that have been critical of Pakistan's government, police, and strong army.
Soon after the TV ban on Saturday, Khan's party said that they would go live on "500+ YouTube and Facebook channels."
But many social media users in Pakistan had trouble getting on YouTube on Sunday, just as Khan was about to speak to a crowd in the city of Rawalpindi.
Khan said in those comments that he was being silenced because he didn't agree with the current coalition government, which was made up of people who had voted him out of power.
The TV ban happened a day after Khan made threats to Islamabad's police chief and a female judge over what he said was the arrest and torture of a close aide. The close aide is being charged with sedition for telling the lower ranks of the military to go against the orders of their superiors.
