Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova, AzerNews Staff Writer

U.S. President Barack Obama says Muslim nations must make a strong effort to protect Americans abroad.

Obama's comments to U.S. TV come after a series of attacks on U.S. diplomatic compounds, including the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11.

U.S. officials have blamed an anti-Islam Internet video in part for the violence.

Obama called the video "offensive" but said it was no excuse for violence.

Obama also said the man behind the video is a "shadowy character."

Despite the violence, he says the situation in Libya is not hopeless. But he says it will be bumpy and at times dangerous.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is the latest country to shut down YouTube to block access to the video.

The official Saudi Press Agency reported the kingdom had sent a request to Google, YouTube's owner, to "veil" all links containing the video, which was produced in the United States and which ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.

Google has blocked access to the video in Libya and Egypt following violence there, and in Indonesia and India because it says the video broke laws in those countries.

On the other hand, Russia also has intended to ban the anti-Islamic film in the country. The Prosecutor General's Office has declared the film "Innocence of Muslims" extremist and will seek a court ruling to ban the controversial video in Russia, its spokeswoman said on Monday.

Before a court ruling the Prosecutor General's Office has instructed the federal mass communications watchdog "to take measures to prevent media distribution of the information contained in this film," she said.

The watchdog has already recommended that Russian Internet providers block access to the film, which portrays Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad in a negative light.

Russian senator Ruslan Gattarov filed a request to the Prosecutor General's Office earlier asking to prohibit the online demonstration of the film, which sparked riots across the Muslim world last week.

OIC to condemn controversial film

The controversial film will be discussed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members next week in New York, the secretary general of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, announced on Tuesday, Today`s Zaman reported.

At a press conference at the headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah, Ihsanoglu said that the planned meeting of OIC members will discuss all possible initiatives to reach an action plan to address the escalating wave of incitement against Muslims after the release of the trailer for the film in question which ridiculed Prophet Muhammad.

He stated that he initiated an intensive diplomatic move and made high-level contacts to formulate an international unified response. He also noted that he sent a letter to US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and made contacts with Dr. Nabil Elaraby, Secretary General of the League of Arab States and Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, in order to explore ways that prevent repetition of such an act which aimed at incitements that may result in violence.

He added that resort to violence leads to loss of life and cannot be tolerated on any grounds.

The 14-minute trailer to "Innocence of Muslims" was originally posted on YouTube last June. It attracted little attention until September 8, when portions of the trailer were broadcast by a television network in Egypt.

Google, which owns YouTube, has denied a request from the U.S. government to remove the video, saying it does not violate the website's terms of use.