Russian court in Chechnya bans ‘Innocence of Muslims’ footage

A Russian court in the heavily Muslim region of Chechnya today outlawed US-made footage responsible for a string of violent riots throughout the Muslim world recently, reported the Associated Press. 

The Grozny court's decision today stated that all footage from the film "Innocence of Muslims," the trailer for which openly mocks the Prophet Muhammad, would not be accessible in the region due to its "extremist and inciting religious and ethnic hatred," said AP. 

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It was not completely clear how far the ruling applied — just to Chechnya or all of Russia, according to AP. 

Russia Today claimed the decision would be be binding across the Russian Federation, citing the Russian Law on Extremism in which "any work that is recognized as extremist material by any court is added to the federal list of extremist materials," according to the report. 

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov personally request that the video be blocked soon after the unrest broke out, according to Russia Today. Today's ruling would make the request permanent. 

Google's Russia spokeswoman, Inessa Roman-Pogorzhelskaya, told AP Google could not legally block access to the footage without a court order. 

A number of other Muslim nations have opted to ban the offending material in the wake of protests. 

Russia keeps a close eye on the Chechya area, which continues to see occasional flashes of extremist violence, most of it spillover from the restive North Caucasus province of Ingushetia.