YouTube censors comedian's anti-Sharia video called 'Welcome to Saudi Britain'
A comedian has been censored by YouTube for making a film in which he condemned the existence of Sharia courts in Britain.
Telegraph
Pat Condell, an outspoken atheist and veteran stand-up comic, uploaded the clip called "Welcome to Saudi Britain" to the popular video-sharing website following claims that judgements made under Islamic law are now legally binding.
In the four-minute clip he denounces the "patriarchal bigotry" of Muslim men and the "corrupt" regime of Saudi Arabia.
He refers to women wearing burqas as "letterbox ladies" and ridicules a Muslim warehouse worker who is suing Tesco for making him carry crates of alcohol.
Condell also pours scorn on the "social engineering" and "doublethink" of the Labour Government and urges viewers to sign a Downing Street petition against the adoption of Sharia in Britain, which has received more than 4,000 signatures.
However YouTube, which is owned by the internet search engine giant Google, has removed the video from its site because of "terms of use violation".
It had been watched more than 40,000 times in the 24 hours after Condell uploaded it.
YouTube has also threatened to disable his entire account if he commits "additional violations".
A spokesman for the website said: "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site, such as pornography, gratuitous violence or hate speech. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material. When users feel content is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it as quickly as possible to see if it violates our Terms of Use. If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts."
But fans of Condell, a veteran of Britain's alternative comedy circuit who has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and who regularly appeared on the BBC Radio 1 show Loose Talk in the 1990s, are now putting copies of the video elsewhere on YouTube.
Visitors to the website have condemned YouTube for censoring the film, while the National Secular Society has written to it in protest.
The NSS said: "As usual, he does not mince his words, but he is not saying anything that is untrue. His main thrust is one of outrage on behalf of those Muslim women who will suffer because they are forced to have their marital problems solved in a male-dominated Sharia court."
Condell made the video after it was reported that ministers had "quietly sanctioned" Sharia courts to make legally binding rulings on cases such as those involving divorce.
However the Government insisted the panels were only using long-standing laws on arbitration, and legal experts said divorce cases ruled on by Sharia tribunal would still need to go through civil courts.
Earlier this year Pakistan's government blocked the country's access to YouTube - leading to an almost global blackout for two hours - because of its anti-Islamic content.