Phl Muslims join protest vs anti-Islam film

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Muslims have joined the worldwide protest against the controversial film “Innocence of Muslims,” bringing their battle to the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday.

Members of the Bangsamoro Nation invoked their constitutional right to free exercise of religion as they sought a temporary restraining order from the high court. The TRO will effectively compel the government to ban the showing of the film in the country.

“Muslims cannot allow this kind of insult to their prophet Mohammad and to the Islamic religion in general... Unless the state prohibits the showing of the subject film inimical to national security, actual or imminent danger of violence shall be expected,” warned Agakhan ‘Benladin’ Sharief, Datu Drieza Lininding, Datu Haj Ansaru Alonto and

Datu Nasser Dimapinto in their 15-page petition filed through lawyer Romeo Esmero.

The petitioners said the film is an “invasion of constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion and to practice religion without fear or hatred.”

They asked the high tribunal to order concerned agencies to prohibit the showing of the film “or its trailers in the country from Internet websites like YouTube, Google and others.”

The petition named Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairman Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares and Commission on Information and Communication Technology chief Ivan John Uy as respondents.

Petitioners argued that the government has the responsibility to ban the showing or any promotion of the “anti-Islamic film” that depicted their prophet as “a womanizer, homosexual and child abuser” and whose life was that of a “fool, philanderer and religious fake.”

They also took offense when the film branded Mohammad as “a donkey, the first Muslim animal.”

The petitioners reported to the high court that Imam Jamil ‘Motawa’ Yahya, chair of the Bangsamoro Supreme Council of Ulammah, issued last Sept. 21 a fatwa ordering punishment by death of the people behind the film.

They furnished the SC a copy of the film and paid the docket fees with 80 kilos of one-peso coins collected from their Muslims brothers.

They also lamented President Aquino’s pronouncement that the film could not be banned out of respect for freedom of expression.

“By refusing to block this despicable film on YouTube, it appears that President Aquino would risk giving more priority to the ‘freedom of expression’ of the alien, monstrous mind that created the film rather than advance the cause of national reconciliation and peace between Muslims and Christians, Bangsamoro and Filipino, in Mindanao and Sulu,” they said.

The petitioners and their supporters prayed in front of the SC building before marching to the US embassy in Manila to hold a peaceful demonstration.

The film, which was produced in California by Sam Bacile and was directed by Allan Roberts, had triggered violent protests in Islamic nations where many Muslims and non-Muslims were killed and injured.

Maranao protesters in Marawi City burned giant replicas of the American and Israeli flags last Sept. 17.