Anti-Islam Flim Maker Gets 1 Year

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Anti-Islam Movie Maker Gets Jail
Arab Movie Maker Gets Jail

LOS ANGELES — Federal Judge Sentences Anti-Islamic Film Maker to Extra Year in Prison

Innocence of Muslims,” the anti-Islamic YouTube video that ignited bloody protests in the Muslim world, to one year in prison for violating parole.

Egyptian (Christian) Found Guilty for I.D. Parole Violation.

Man Connected with Anti-Islam Film Denied Continued Probation, and One Year Added to Already Existing Term.

Movie "Innocence of Muslims" Producers Fined for Causing Riots.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Egyptian Christian and convicted felon who goes by Mark Basseley Youssef (a fictious name adopted by Nakoula) was brought into Fedearl District Court in LA, California and entered a plea of guilty to at least four of the charges brought against him for his probation violation in a bank fraud conviction from 2010.

His guilty pleas were only related to him maintaing dual indentities, rather than anything directly related to the world wide disturbance caused by his movie video that attacked Muhammd, peace be upon him, the prophet of the Islamic faith for Muslims world wide.

Having extra identities is ordinarily not be permitted for someone on parole for commiting fraud, writing hot checks or other forms of financial deception, but especially in a case where someone is giving false and deceptive information and producing false represenation of famous people.

All four additional charges related to Nakoula's production and promotion of the movie "Innocense of Muslims" were dropped, even though prosecutors maintained he had lied to police regarding his involvement with the movie project.

Mr. Steve Seiden, attorney for Nakoula, had asked the court to consider sentencing for Nakoula to be one year of 'home confinement' in addition to his current probation.

Federal Judge Christina A. Snyder rejected the 'home confinment' idea and ordered one year in prison with four additional years of continue probation.

Federal attorney for the prosecution, Robert Dugdale, didn't pursue charges directly related to the anti-Islam movie, saying that the deceitful manner in which it was carried out as taken into consideration as part of the sentencing argument.

According to the prosecution Nakoula used fictious names including Sam Bacile and others, to make the movie and he tricked the cast into thinking they were making a movie about a murdering tribal desert leader named "George".

After recording the scenes, Nakoula used crude editing techniques for voice over dubbing, to make it appear it was the character of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his followers.

Mr. Dugdale stated, "That was substanital fraud".

Such a movie, depicting the outstanding charater of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, as nothing more than a bloodthirsty, desert gang leader would obviously cause distrubances across the Muslim world. People who love and adore God's last prophet of Mercy to all mankind could hardly sit still for such a false protrayal of such an extranary man, may God's peace & blessings be upon him.

Outbreaks, demonstrations and scenes of support for Islam and Muslims quite obviously broke out all around the globe. From all across northern Africa to Indonesia people of all ages gathered in public outcry against the video version of "Innocence of Muslims" presented on YouTube.

Two billion people living all around the world, experiencing their role model being protrayed in such an evil role could do nothing less than cause the faithful to come together for kind of answers and even retribution.

Some of the cast members have experienced public defamation and even violent threats, are now finding difficulty in landing acting jobs as a result of Nakoula's trickery and voice dubbing, according to Mr. Dugdale. One and maybe more have filed law suites against Nakoula for his fraudulent acts.

"His deception has actually caused real harm to people," said Dugdale.

“His deception actually caused real harm to people,” he said.

During the trial, reporters were forbidden to enter the court, but they could watch the proceedings on large video monitors place in a differnt location within the courthouse. Nakoula could be seen on camera, wearing a white protective custody prison suit, slouching down between Seiden and an Arabic interpreter.

Some have questioned why Nakoula would need a translator considering his ability to dub over English videos with other English words. However, nothing was noted in the trial concerning these facts.

Before the trial had even started Nakoula had sent a letter directly to Judge Snyder, which she mentioned at the beginning of the hearing. She said she had not been able to read it as it was all in Arabic and she was looking for an appropriate method to pay for the translator.

When Nakoula was asked whether or not he would like to talk about the contents of the letter, he said, "No".

After being arrested, Nakoula was ordered to be held without bail. Concern for his saftey was given as part of the reason, but obviously his background and previous convictions must have had at least some influence as to the situation for bail bonds.

Concerns for Nakoula's safety also were given for keeping him in protective custody at the detention center in Los Angeles.

Mr. Nakoula was arrested in September and was ordered held without bail. Out of concern for his safety, he has been kept in protective custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center here. A number of Afghani and Pakistani tribal leaders offered rewards for Nakoula for making such a dispecable movie about the most highly revered and respected person to Muslims around the world for the last fourteen hundred years.


--- On another note --

Muslim scholars in various parts of the world have ruled that, abuse of any kind or physical violence toward anyone is not within the keeping of true following of Muhammad, peace be upon him, even though it is understandable considering the highly emotional atmosphere caused by such a lewd and crude production of our prophet, peace be upon him.

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