MANILA, Philippines --- Several Muslim groups asked the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday to stop the screening of the film “Innocence of Muslims” which, they claimed, is an affront to their Islam faith and their prophet Mohammad.
They furnished the SC a copy of the film which was produced in the United States by Sam Bacile and was directed by Allan Roberts. The film had triggered violent protests in Islamic nations.
Invoking their right to a free exercise of religion, the groups sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would compel the government to ban the showing of the film in the country.
“Muslims cannot alow 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 the national security, actual or imminent danger of violence shall be expected,” said 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 groups asked the SC to direct all concerned agencies “to pull out or remove or prohibit the showing of the said film or its trailers within the Philippines from Internet websites like Youtube, Google and others.”
Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Movies and Television Review and Classification Board Chairman Mary Grace Poe Llamanzares, and Commission on Information and Communication Technology chief Ivan John Uy.
They told the SC the government has the power and responsibility to ban the showing of the “anti-Islamic film” that depicted their prophet Mohammad as “a womanizer, homosexual, and child abuser” and whose life was that of a “fool, philanderer, and religious fake.”
“The film is offensive to the petitioner’s Islamic religion and there is a real clear and present danger that it would incite hatred and extreme violence to the prevailing and relative peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians in the country,” they said.
The petitioners also told the SC that Imam Jamil ‘Motawa’ Yahya, a Filipino Muslim leader and chairman of Bangsamoro Supreme Council of Ulammah, issued on September 21 a fatwa (decree) ordering punishment by death of the people behind the film.
In a press statement issued after the filing of their petition, the groups said they lamented President Aquino’s statement that the film could not be banned in the Philippines out of respect for the 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 petition is expected to be tackled in today’s regular full court session of the SC.
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