WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / March 6, 2019 / YouTube is protecting hate speech and incitement to violence against the LBGTQ community by removing a MEMRI TV clip exposing a Canadian imam who calls "to stone these people to death." The MEMRI TV clip, posted on April 4 on the MEMRI TV YouTube channel, shows Bangash, at an April 1996 conference, criticizing the West for being "proud of being homosexuals," and saying: "It is time for us to pick up the stones to stone these people to death for [this] abomination... Allah imposes [this responsibility] upon us." He added that something is wrong with Muslims who treat the Jews as friends, and assured his audience that the Jews, Christians, polytheists, and infidels "spare no effort" to ruin Muslims because of their hatred for them.
YouTube removed the clip on March 4 and MEMRI appealed the decision the same day, explaining: "As part of MEMRI's Reform Project, we expose hate speech, including anti-LGBTQ sentiment (such as this video), and we support reformists who speak out against such hate speech." YouTube denied the appeal on March 5, thus upholding its protection of hate speech and calls for violence against the LGBTQ community.
The MEMRI TV clip is part of the MEMRI Reform Project that identifies and supports those in the Arab and Muslim world who advocate reform and human rights and exposes hate speech against such rights. The Reform Project translates and exposes hate speech in the Arab and Muslim world and informs efforts, including policies, strategies, and legislative initiatives, to address such hate speech. By limiting the clip's distribution, YouTube is preventing the exposure of hate speech and curtailing the fight against it.
The MEMRI Reform Project: Exposing Hate Speech
MEMRI's objective in highlighting the work of the Reform Project is to bring the issue of hate speech to media, to present evidence so that legal countermeasures can be taken, and to inform policy makers in order to provide the informational infrastructure for policies, strategies and legislative initiatives to counter hate speech.
MEMRI research and translation efforts on exposing hate speech in the Arab and Muslim world have provided crucial resources to educate policymakers, media organizations, the public, and others. MEMRI asks for your help to continue this important work through tax-deductible donations.
About MEMRI
Exploring the Middle East and South Asia through their media, MEMRI bridges the language gap between the West and the Middle East and South Asia, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, Dari, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends.
Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. MEMRI's main office is located in Washington, DC, with branch offices in various world capitals. MEMRI research is translated into English, French, Polish, Japanese, Spanish and Hebrew.
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SOURCE: Middle East Media Research Institute