Los Angeles, CA – The California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that has inflamed parts of the Middle East was arrested Thursday for violating terms of his probation, authorities said.
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Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has been on probation for a 2010 federal check fraud conviction that brought a 21-month prison sentence. Under terms of his probation, he was not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.
Nakoula was taken into custody Thursday, said U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Thomas Mrozek.
A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled for Nakoula on Thursday afternoon. It was closed to media and the public.
Protests have erupted around the Middle East over a 14-minute trailer for the film “Innocence of Muslims” that depicts Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester. Though the trailer was posted to YouTube in July, the violence didn’t break out until Sept. 11 and has spread since.
Nakoula, a Christian originally from Egypt, went into hiding after he was identified as the man behind the trailer.
The full story about Nakoula and the film still isn’t known.
The movie was made last year by a man who called himself Sam Bacile. After the violence erupted, a man who identified himself as Bacile called media outlets including The Associated Press, took credit for the film and said it was meant to portray the truth about Muhammad and Islam, which he called a cancer.
The next day, the AP determined there was no Bacile and linked the identity to Nakoula, a former gas station owner with a drug conviction and a history of using aliases. Federal authorities later confirmed there was no Bacile and that Nakoula was behind the movie.
Before going into hiding, Nakoula acknowledged to the AP he was involved with the film, but said he only worked on logistics and management.
A film permit listed Media for Christ, a Los Angeles-area charity run by other Egyptian Christians, as the production company. Most of the film was made at the charity’s headquarters. Steve Klein, an insurance agent in Hemet and outspoken Muslim critic, has said he was a consultant and promoter for the film.
The trailer still can be found on YouTube. The Obama administration asked Google, YouTube’s parent, to take down the video but the company has refused, saying it did not violate its content standards.
Meantime, a number of actors and workers on the film have come forward to say they were duped. They say they were hired for a film titled “Desert Warrior” and there was no mention of Islam or Muhammad in the script. Those references were dubbed in after filming was completed.
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia has sued to get the trailer taken down, saying she was duped.
Just another day at Obama’s injustice department for the radical Islam lovers.
This is very disturbing!!!! Do you think he would have been arrested if he had made a movie denigrating Christianity? Did he only violate parole after he made the movie? Free speech is dead in this country. Notice how liberals want to take away our liberties in the name of social good. Very dangerous!
Welcome to communist America, I was waiting and waiting sooooooo long to see what they’ll come up with.
Didn’t that Hamann from Iran come to America too express freedom of speech?
Trying to suck up to the “peace loving” moslems.? Shame on America – instead of getting rid of these madman Obama acomadates them. Wake up America before its too late.
Once the Government will tell you what you can and what you cant publish thats the beginning of the end.
Free speech?
You would rather this fraud and drug dealer be walking free, stirring up more trouble?
Witch Hunt!
Another Zimmerman.
What would all you people be saying if it was a movie supporting antisemitism?
All of you would probably say things like he should get arrested the Govt. can’t allow such a thing and we would all go nuts so then why isn’t it a problem when it’s against another religion?
before you jump to conclusions, step back a second. this might be a complete set up by the government and something they both agreed on, so he can relocate under a new name and be safer. The government does that many times, especially when there are no cameras, media or anyone else allowed in court.
Notice that he was happy to lie so Jews would be the targets of Muslim anger.
This was NOT Free speech since he CHANGED the speech in the movie. He changed whatever the actors and actresses said to what HE wanted. PEOPLE are DEAD!! Are you happy about that as a result?? They may not be Jewish but what if they were?? An American Ambassador is dead!! Are you all so happy? What gives with some of you when you post?? It was just Yom Kippur!! Do you all have so much hatred in your heart? You can lie on the web but you cannot lie before Hoshanah Rabbah!! Hashem should help some of you to rid some of the hatred in your hearts and change it to love, if you know the meaning of the word.
Remember the words of Rabi Akiva!! Maybe it will help!!
Yes, it was the feds- and it was completely within their jurisdiction, since he violated the terms of his federal probation. He was on federal probation because he had previously committed bank fraud, which is a federal crime, for which he had spent time in federal prison- and all of this occurred before he was involved in anti-Muslim activities.
The guy was not allowed to specifically use a computer and using false aliases as a condition of his probation. You think the courts are going to turn a blind eye on someone who blatantly and visibly violates his probation? If the guy wasn’t already a con he would be a free man today.
This was not a political arrest. NOT arresting him WOULD have been a political act, since it would have placed posturing over the rule of law. dina d’malchuta dina.