Pakistani Muslim protesters burn a US flag du
Pakistani Muslim protesters burn a US flag duAFP photo

A court ruling allowing Turkey to ban access to the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” that sparked outrage worldwide has been finalized, the country’s Transportation, Maritime and Communication Minister Binali Yıldırım said Wednesday.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the ruling will now allow Turkish authorities to ban any webpage that shows any portion of the movie, including the video-sharing giant YouTube.

Yıldırım instructed his ministry on Tuesday to launch legal procedures to remove the anti-Islam movie from the Internet, according to a statement released by his website.

Following the protests that erupted because of the film, the White House asked YouTube to review the film and check “whether it violates their terms of use.”

However, a YouTube spokesperson said the video “is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.”

The spokesperson added, however, that the site restricted access in Libya and Egypt because of the unrest. “We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions. This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier this week, Iran blocked access to YouTube, Google and Gmail, saying the sites were restricted "because of public demand."

"Google and YouTube continued to carry the film clip that insulted our people's sacred beliefs," an unnamed source said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan has denounced the video, but also insisted that protests against such insults cannot justify terror.