Bangladesh blocks Facebook pages: media

DHAKA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) — Bangladesh authorities Thursday blocked Facebook, a popular social networking site amid fear of negative campaigns after a verdict of death sentence on a leader of an Islamic party, sources said.

But Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said that the commission has not shut down the Facebook.

“Facebook down because of technical glitch,” BTRC official Rahman Khan told Xinhua.

Leading English newspaper The Daily Star said Facebook was shut down around 11:00 a.m. local time.

Quoting an unnamed official, it said BTRC authorities received government instruction to block Facebook in the morning and conveyed the message to various Internet gateways later.

Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, believed to be the second-most important leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced to death by a tribunal in capital Dhaka Thursday for war crimes including mass killings.

Source: Xinhuanet