‘Innocence Of Muslims’ Producer Sentenced To Year In Prison

The producer of the anti-Islam film The Innocence Of Muslims has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for probation violations. Mark Basseley Youssef, aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, admitted in a hearing in Los Angeles today to four allegations of using fake identities. Judge Christina Snyder also ruled that Youssef must submit to four years of supervised release after he gets out of jail. In exchange for his guilty plea, four other violation allegations were dropped by federal authorities. Youssef was arrested September 27 on eight counts of probation violations and has been in custody ever since. His last hearing on the matter was on October 10, when a November 9 hearing was set. That hearing, now abandoned, was to have the U.S. Attorney prove that Youssef broke terms of his probation on a 2009 bank fraud conviction by making and uploading The Innocence Of Muslims’ 14-minute trailer onto YouTube. That action set off a chain of violent and deadly protests in the Muslim world in September. The allegations related to the film were not a part of the violations that lead to today’s sentencing.

Related: Pakistani Islamist Demands Obama Hand Over ‘Innocence Of Muslims’ Filmmaker