The Egyptian government has ruled to ban video-sharing website YouTube for 30 days, Digital Spy said.

The ruling, which has not been enforced yet, came after the Google-owned website hosted and refused to remove a 14-minute clip called 'The Innocence of Muslims'.

Google chose not to take down the video from YouTube, but did block access to it in countries such as Egypt and Libya, according to The Washington Post.

The Egyptian government claimed that the American-made video in question was "offensive to Islam and to the Prophet [Mohammed]".

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq explained: "This is a temporary punishment, you could say, for these websites for participating in this."

In addition, he warned that any other social websites that circulate the video - including Facebook and Twitter - may also potentially face bans.

'The Innocence of Muslims' reportedly portrays Mohammed as a religious fraud and womaniser.