A U.S. federal judge has ordered the arrest and detention of the alleged filmmaker behind a crudely produced anti-Islam video that has sparked weeks of deadly protest across the Muslim world.
Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal on Thursday ordered Nakoula Basseley Nakoula held without bail for violating the terms of his probation on a 2010 bank fraud conviction.
In issuing her ruling, Segal said the court has a "lack of trust" in the defendant, noting Nakoula was a flight risk.
Federal prosecutors say Nakoula, 55, committed eight violations of the terms of his release, including lying to probation officers and using aliases.
"Innocence of Muslims" Movie
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Excerpts of the film were posted on YouTube in English and Arabic
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The film depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a caricature
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Reportedly financed by expatriate members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority group
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Promoted by Florida-based Christian Pastor Terry Jones, who burned a Quran in his church
Nakoula - allegedly the real identity behind the pseudonym Sam Bacile, the director of "Innocence of Muslims" - was briefly taken into custody earlier this month for questioning by his probation officer.
The film depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a thuggish deviant offended many Muslims and sparked a wave of anti-American protests that have left several people dead and saw mobs burn U.S. missions, schools and businesses.
On Friday, a court in the Russian republic of Chechnya outlawed the film, calling it "extremist" and warning it could destabilize the majority Muslim area. The authorities in Chechnya and neighboring republics of Russia's North Caucasus region have been fighting Islamist separatists for years.
It is not clear whether the Chechen court ruling will be enforced across the rest of Russia.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
On a road leading to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, protesters shout slogans against the anti-Islam film made in the U.S. mocking the Prophet Muhammad, September 21, 2012.
Afghan university students burn a U.S. flag in the Surkhrod district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, September 19, 2012.
Protesters use sticks to smash the windscreen and windows of a car during an anti-America protest march in Islamabad September 20, 2012.
A protester covers his face in front of tear gas during clashes with riot police along a road at Kornish El Nile leading to the U.S. embassy, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, September 15, 2012.
Pakistani police officers stand guard as Pakistani lawyers chant slogans near the area that houses the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions in Islamabad, Pakistan, September 19, 2012.
A riot policeman keeps watch during a demonstration in Kabul, September 21, 2012.
Kashmiri medical students protest against the anti-Islam film in Srinagar, India, September 19, 2012.
A Muslim man holds up a placard during a protest against the anti-Islam film in Jammu, India September 21, 2012.
Muslim demonstrators are seen through a flag as they shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest in Chennai, September 18, 2012.
Pakistani activists of the hard line Sunni party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) burn a US flag during a protest against an anti-Islam movie in Peshawar, September 18, 2012.
Muslim demonstrators hold a defaced poster of U.S. President Barack Obama during an anti-U.S. protest in Chennai, September 18, 2012.
Protesters set fire to trees in the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis September 14, 2012.