US judge jails anti-Islam filmmaker for a year
Posted by Ngo jobs
on Thursday 8 November 2012
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LOS ANGELES: The
man behind the anti-Islam video blamed for sparking deadly protests in
the Muslim world was jailed in the US for a year Wednesday for breaching
the terms of his probation for a previous offense.
مریکی عدالت نے اسلام مخالف فلم بنانے والے ملعون پروڈیوسر مارک بیسلے کو پیرول کی خلاف ورزی کرنے پر ایک سال قید کی سزا سنا دی۔
55 سالہ ملعون پروڈیوسر مارک بیسلے کو جعلسازی اوربنک فراڈ کیس میں سزا کے
بعد پیرول پر رہا کردیا گیا تھا، امریکی ریاست کیلی فورنیا کی ایک عدالت نے
ملعون پروڈیوسر کو پیرول کی خلاف ورزی کرنے پر ایک سال قید کی سزا سنائی
ہے جس کے بعد ملعون پروڈیوسرپر پیرول کی خلاف ورزی کے 8 الزامات عائد کئے
گئے ہیں جن میں سے مارک بیسلے نے 4 الزامات کا اقرارکر لیا ہے۔
Mark Basseley Youssef, 55, will serve the sentence in a US federal
prison after he admitted four allegations of using false identities – a
violation of the terms of his probation for a bank fraud conviction in
2010.
He had faced up to two years behind bars, but four other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.
Youssef was identified as the main man behind Innocence of Muslims, an amateurish film which triggered a wave of violent protests that left dozens dead in September.
The video was also linked to the September 11 attack on the US consulate
in Benghazi in which US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three
other Americans were killed.
In February 2009, a federal indictment accused Youssef and others of
fraudulently obtaining the identities and Social Security numbers of
customers at several Wells Fargo branches in California and withdrawing
$860 from them.
He was jailed
for 21 months and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five
years without authorization, and also banned from using fictitious names
during his supervised release.
Youssef was arrested in September for eight probation violations. At a
hearing last month he denied all counts, but on Wednesday he admitted to
four, in return for the other four being set aside.
US District Judge Christina A Snyder said Youssef, who has already spent
five weeks in custody, must spend 12 months behind bars, followed by
four years of supervised release.
Youssef was previously listed as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, and known as Sam Bacile when the protests about the video emerged.
Assistant US Attorney Robert Dugdale said Youssef had “betrayed” the actors involved inInnocence of Muslims by not telling them he was a “recently released convicted felon.”
The Egyptian-born Coptic Christian also deceived them by dubbing
anti-Islamic dialogue over their lines after the movie was shot. “He
made that choice for other people,” the prosecutor said.
Such behavior was part of a “long-standing pattern of deception” by Youssef, he added.
An actress on the film, Cindy Lee Garcia, filed two lawsuits against
YouTube demanding that the online video service withdraw a 14-minute
clip of the film. Both were rejected, one by a local judge and another
in federal court.
Garcia said she thought she signed up for a film called Desert Warrior
about life 2,000 years ago, and only realized her lines had been
over-dubbed when protests erupted across the Muslim world in September.
US missions, schools and businesses were set ablaze by angry mobs offended by the film.
According to court papers, Youssef wrote and produced the trailer, and
uploaded an English-language version of it onto YouTube on July 2,
followed by a version dubbed in Arabic on September 11, the anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks.
“His deception actually caused real harm to people,” Dugdale told the
Los Angeles court, adding that at least one actress feared for her life,
while others “believe their careers are ruined” by appearing in the
video.
But defense lawyer Steve Seiden said Youssef had the right to change
dialogue and other things about the film, stating: “The actors signed
releases” surrendering rights to the filmmaker.
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Labels: International news