LOS ANGELES — A federal judge Thursday determined a California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that inflamed parts of the Middle East is a flight risk and ordered him detained.
Citing a lengthy pattern of deception, U.S. Central District Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal said Nakoula Basseley Nakoula should be held after officials said he violated his probation from a 2010 check-fraud conviction.
“The court has a lack of trust in this defendant at this time,” Segal said.
Nakoula, 55, was arrested Thursday. He had eight probation violations, including lying to his probation officers and using aliases, and he might face new charges that carry a maximum twoyear prison term, authorities said. Nakoula will remain behind bars until another hearing where a judge will rule whether he broke the terms of his probation.
Nakoula wore beige pants and a collared shirt when he was led into the courtroom handcuffed and shackled. He appeared relaxed, smiling at one point before the hearing and conferring with his attorney.
After his 2010 conviction, Nakoula was sentenced to 21 months in prison and was barred from using computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.
In July, a 14-minute trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims was posted on YouTube, leading to protests around the Middle East. Nakoula, a Coptic Christian originally from Egypt, went into hiding after he was identified as the man behind the trailer, which depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester.
In court Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale said Nakoula was a flight risk, partially because of the uproar over the film. The violence in the Middle East broke out Sept. 11 and has spread since, killing dozens, including the ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.
“He has every incentive to disappear,” Dugdale said.
The hearing had an unusual wrinkle as the news media were banned from the courtroom, and reporters had to watch the proceedings on a TV in a different courthouse a couple of blocks away. Court officials didn’t give a reason for the decision.
Nakoula’s attorney Steven Seiden sought to have the hearing closed and his client released on $10,000 bond. He argued Nakoula has checked in with his probation officer frequently and made no attempts to leave Southern California.
Seiden was concerned that Nakoula would be in danger in federal prison because of Muslim inmates, but prosecutors said he likely would be placed in protective custody.
The trailer still can be found on YouTube. The Obama administration asked Google, YouTube’s parent, to take down the video. But the company has refused, saying the trailer didn’t violate its content standards.
Information for this article was contributed by Gillian Flaccus of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 09/28/2012