Rizvi’s Twitter account suspended

islamabad — Twitter suspended the account of a ultra-right Pakistani cleric on Sunday following inflammatory statements targeting the judiciary, prime minister, and military after the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, the government said.

Cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party blocked off roads in Pakistan’s major cities for three days last week and threatened the Supreme Court judges who acquitted Asia Bibi on Wednesday — urging their cooks and servants to kill them.

Bibi had spent eight years on death row before the court overturned

her conviction and ordered her to be freed.

“We sent a request to Twitter that this account has been inciting hate and violence,” two senior officials at the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The TLP condemned the suspension of Rizvi’s account, terming it a “conspiracy by the opponents of the protection of prophethood and Islam”.

A second account that was created on Sunday was also suspended soon after.

The TLP ended protests late on Friday evening following negotiations with the government and an agreement to open a review of the court’s decision as well as possibly putting Bibi’s name on an ‘exit control list’ that would bar her from leaving the country.

Bibi’s whereabouts are unknown, but radicals have warned the authorities against taking her out of the country. —