Maker of Controversial Anti-Islam Movie Sentenced to 1 Year in the US

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula the man behind the anti-Muslim film that led to mass protests in the Middle East has been sentenced to a year in jail for probation violations, the BBC reports.

Nakoula was sentenced by a judge in California after admitting four violations which stem from a 2010 conviction for fraud. Contrary to what most people would have thought, none of the charges was connected with the content of the controversial film, ‘Innocence of Muslims.’ It will be recalled that dozens of people died in the Middle East as a result of protests over the film.

US District Judge Christina Snyder said Nakoula, 55, must spend 12 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release. Prosecutors had been seeking a two-year sentence.

After he was first convicted in 2010, Nakoula had served most of his 21-month jail sentence for using more than a dozen aliases and opening about 60 bank accounts to conduct a cheque fraud scheme, prosecutors said. The Los Angeles Times reports that it was while he was in prison that he read the Quran, looking for ways to criticise Islam.

2 COMMENTS