TUESDAY AM, 19TH UPDATE WRITETHRU: Court records show that the man believed to be behind the anti-Islamic Innocence Of Muslims that has set off deadly unrest in the Middle East was once a federal informant. The Smoking Gun obtained a transcript which shows attorneys for Nakoula Basseley Nakoula pleaded for 'cooperation points' when their client was sentenced in 2010 on an earlier conviction for check fraud. The lawyers argued cooperation with prosecutors in a separate case should be taken into consideration. Per The Smoking Gun, Nakoula identified a 'notorious fraudster who has been tracked for more than a decade by state and federal investigators,' during his debriefings.
Last weekend, federal authorities interviewed Nakoula and are determining whether he violated his probation. He served 21 months in prison on 2009 federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges and a $795K fine. ABC News has reported he 'could face more prison time if it is determined his involvement in the film was a violation of his probation, which barred him from either owning or using devices with access to the Web without prior approval from his probation officer.' So far Nakoula has not been arrested. He left his family's Cerritos home with his head wrapped in a towel to hide his identity when sheriffs escorted him to a police station for FBI questioning.
Embassies remained on alert this week as demonstrations against the movie continued across the Muslim world. An Afghan insurgent group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a minibus in Kabul early Tuesday that killed at least 9 people, saying it was retaliation for the film. Protesters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia rallied and authorities in Bangladesh blocked YouTube indefinitely to stop people seeing the video, Reuters reports. Pakistan and Afghanistan have also blocked the site and Google India blocked access to the trailer. Those moves follows similar blocks by YouTube in Egypt and Libya. At the same time, German authorities are now considering whether to ban a far-right group from holding a public screening of the film, Chancellor Angela Merkel said according to the Associated Press. The Pro Deutschland Citizens' Movement has posted the trailer on its website but it is unclear if it has access to more footage.
In a show of unity, Coptic Christian and Muslim leaders held a news conference Monday in Los Angeles to condemn the film. Maher Hathout, senior adviser for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, said the violent reaction has been unwarranted and irrational for such an 'insignificant production'.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair also weighed in Monday, telling BBC Radio 4, 'The film, it may be wrong and offensive but it is also laughable as a piece of filmmaking. What I am afraid is very dangerous and actually is wrong is the reaction to it.' And, another cast member has come forth. Lily Dionne told CNN Of the film's producer, whom she knew as Sam Bacile, 'He knew what he was doing. He was playing us all along.'
The U.S. remains under pressure from the Muslim world to take action against the people responsible for the anti-Islam propaganda film, although London's Sunday Times said U.S. investigators believe the crude video may never have been a finished feature.
The leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has called for demonstrations against the film in Lebanon. The U.S. State Department has called for the removal of non-essential personnel from some of its missions with Germany following suit.
Backed by hardcore anti-Islam groups in the U.S., Innocence Of Muslims has been the catalyst for violent and even deadly rioting in more than 30 countries beginning with Egypt and Libya on 9/11. Over the weekend, Mohammed Magarief, the president of Libya's national assembly told Reuters the attacks that killed ambassador Christopher Stevens last Tuesday were planned rather than a reaction to the movie. Comments by Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, contradicted that view. Speaking today, Rice said, 'There's no question, as we've seen in the past with things like The Satanic Verses, with the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad, there have been such things that have sparked outrage and anger and this has been the proximate cause of what we've seen,' Reuters reported.
Both the Obama administration and GOP presidental candidate Mitt Romney have denounced the video publicly. It fell to U.S. Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton to explain why the American government isn't ordering this 'disgusting and reprehensible' video pulled or its filmmakers arrested. 'Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day. I would note that in today's world with today's technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.'
The amateurish production ridicules the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child molester. At first, it was ignored even when trailers were posted on Google's YouTube in July. But then Egyptian television aired certain segments, which sparked protests which intensified. When news of his movie first broke, the filmmaker identified himself to media as Sam Bacile and made up lies about his identity. But the paperwork filed for the Screen Actors Guild was that of Abenob Nakoula Bassely. A public records search showed an Abanob B. Nakoula residing at the same address as Nakoula. Now the filmmaker is believed to be a Coptic Christian with many aliases. Details emerge as people involved with Innocence Of Muslims are brought forward.
' Family members of Nakoula Basseley Nakouly, the man believed to be behind the film, have left their Cerritos home to join Nakoula in hiding. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies escorted members of Nakoula's family out of the house early Monday and into sheriff's vehicles so they could rejoin Nakoula at an undisclosed location.
' News reports claim a second filmmaker, Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, president of the Duarte-based charity Media for Christ, is an associate of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
' The LA Times reports that Media for Christ obtained filming permits for the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula provided his Cerritos home as a set and paid the actors. Police have visited Media for Christ, according to The Guardian. The filming permit has been temporarily removed from an online database amid safety concerns raised by the FBI and the State Department. Film LA president Paul Audley also told Bloomberg the film was shot at Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita.
' Nakoula has a criminal record, according to Thursday afternoon news reports: he pleaded guilty in 1997 and served time in jail for 'intent to manufacture methamphetamine'. His arrest in 2009 by postal inspectors interrupted his original plans to make the movie.
' Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a federal law enforcement source told the AP. A man calling himself Sam Bacile initially claimed to be the writer and director of the film, but doubts have surfaced regarding his identity. It appears that Bacile is one of many aliases Nakoula used, the AP notes. The chief electrician for the film, Eric Moers, told The Independent he was paid by check from an account belonging to Abanob Basseley Nakoula.
' The YouTube profile 'Sam Bacile' was used to post clips of the film on July 1 and comments as recently as Tuesday this week. It lists the age of the account holder at 74. Nakoula is believed to be 55.
' Sam Bacile has no credits on any movie industry database. SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline they have no information about the film and the DGA confirms they have no 'Sam Bacile' on record.
' Another man, Steve Klein, told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie vetting the script. Klein is an insurance agent and self-described militant Christian activist who resides in Hemet, CA.
' There are accounts of the film being screened in June under the name Innocence Of Bin Laden. According to Klein, Nakoula wanted to give it a title that would draw in and then trick 'hardcore Muslims' into watching a movie that slammed Islam. But according to Klein, no tickets were sold and Nakoula was 'crushed,' the AP said. Klein told The Times 'felt great' about consulting on the film.
' According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Klein founded Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques, and started Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, which preaches against Muslims and publishes anti-Muslim propaganda.
' CNN received a statement from the 80 or so people in front of and behind the cameras denouncing the film they say they worked on without knowing it was propaganda. The statement reads:
'The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred.'
' Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appears in clips of the film on YouTube, told Reuters she answered a casting call last year for Desert Warrior. She said shooting took place inside a church near L.A. in the summer of 2011. About 50 actors were involved, she told Reuters. Garcia said her character was forced to give away her child to a character named Master George, who is listed in the casting call. But in scenes from the trailer, Garcia's lines appear dubbed over with another voice referring to Mohammad rather than George. Garcia also told CNN the script did not include a Prophet Muhammed character and that the actors complained their lines had been changed.
' Castmember Lily Dionne told CNN the actors questioned why the central character in Innocence Of Muslims had a western name. 'We did wonder what it was about. They kept saying George. And we were like, 'This is the Middle East 2,000 years ago. Who's George?'' she said. After the shoot wrapped, Dionne said the actors were brought in to dub lines. 'They'd say 'Say Mohammed,' and they'd (the actors would) say 'Say Mohammed' why?'
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