Pakistan blocks Twitter over images of Prophet Muhammad

ISLAMABAD Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter for much of Sunday because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam, said one of the countrys top telecommunications officials.

The tweets were promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islams Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

The government restored access to Twitter before midnight Sunday, about eight hours after it initially blocked access. It was unclear whether the government reversed its decision because of action by Twitter or because of public criticism it received for its censorship.