Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that inflamed parts of the Middle East to be detained because he is a flight risk.
U.S. Central District Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal ordered Nakoula Basseley Nakoula held after authorities said he violated terms of his probation.
Nakoula, 55, was convicted in 2010 for federal check and sentenced to 21 months in prison. Under terms of his probation, he was not allowed to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer. Nakoula was arrested after federal probation officials determined he violated the terms of his supervised release, Thomas Mrozek, a U.S. Attorney’s spokesman in Los Angeles, said Thursday.
Protests have erupted around the Middle East over a 14-minute trailer for “Innocence of Muslims,” which depicts 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, killing dozens.
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 video still isn’t known.
