Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has urged YouTube to unblock the channel of the late prominent Islamic scholar, Dr.Israr Ahmed. PTA argued that his videos are for education and not hate speech.
“PTA has formally approached Youtube and taken up the matter of blocking of the channel of late Dr. Israr Ahmed over allegation of hate speech,” a source said while talking to a media outlet. “The authority has also asked the video-sharing platform to review its decision,” the source added further.
The video platform, YouTube, had shut down the channel of Dr. Israr Ahmed. The YouTube channel had videos of Dr. Israr Ahmed regarding the discourse on Islamic values including teachings and explanations of Quranic verses. The channel had a wide viewership in Pakistan.
YouTube has illegitimately deleted Dr Israr Ahmed's YouTube channel. We condemn this act!! #DrIsrarAhmad #RestoreDrIsrarYoutubeChannel pic.twitter.com/KWQTfKtEIH
— Tuaha Ibn Jalil (@TuahaJalil) April 5, 2022
YouTube shuts down channel
The channel was shut down last Friday on the allegations of propagating anti-semitic views. The channel is operated by the son of Dr. Israr Ahmed.
“Upon review, we removed the channel belonging to Israr Ahmad for violating our hate speech policies and a further eleven videos have been removed either as a result of this circumvention or for violating our violent extremism and hate speech policies,” the private media outlet quoting YouTube saying this.
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YouTube took action after several reports were published against Dr. Israr Ahmed in the weekly newspaper Jewish Chronicle. The weekly newspaper had claimed that British Pakistani Malik Faisal Akram, who took Texas Synagogue hostage was inspired by the lectures of Dr. Israr Ahmed.
There was an outrage on social media following the shutdown of the channel. The netizens in Pakistan urged the authorities to take the matter to YouTube and ensure the resumption of the channel. His lectures were mostly watched by the people in the West. The channel uploaded videos of the old speeches of Dr. Israr Ahmed on YouTube for Muslims to learn and understand the principles of Islam.