Kazakhstan bans anti-Islamic film

A court in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan has banned as "extremist" the anti-Islamic film that sparked deadly protests across the world, AFP reports, citing a court official on Thursday. The US-produced "Innocence of Muslims" about the life of the Prophet Mohammed has led to massive demonstrations across the Muslim world, although so far there have been no major rallies in Kazakhstan which is 70 percent Muslim. The district court in the capital Astana declared the film extremist in response to a request from Astana's chief prosecutor. The court has ruled to "declare the 'Innocence of Muslims' distributed through www.youtube.com extremist and ban the import, publication and distribution of the film across Kazakhstan," the court official said. Kazakhstan, long seen as one of Central Asia's most stable countries, has seen an unusual upsurge in unrest blamed on Islamist militants in recent years. The ex-Soviet nation's neighbour Russia banned the controversial film earlier this week.