An extremist in Pak wanted to sentence me to death: Zuckerberg

Washington, Jan 9: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said an extremist in Pakistan had sought to sentence him to death as he refused to ban anti-Islam content on his social networking site that offended him.

"A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban the content," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page following the terrorist attack on a French satirical magazine for publishing controversial cartoons.

Twelve people, including eight senior journalists, died in the attack. Zuckerberg said despite threat that he stood by his decision.

"We stood up for this because different voices -- even if they're sometimes offensive -- can make the world a better and more interesting place," he said. Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas, he said.

"We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world," the Facebook founder said.

"Yet as I reflect on the attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject -- a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world," Zuckerberg said adding that he won't let that happen on Facebook.

"I'm committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the people of France and the people all over the world who choose to share their views and ideas, even when that takes courage. ?#?JeSuisCharlie," he said.

PTI