Nakoula Basseley Nakoula

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Egypt[1]
Other names
  • Sam Bacile
  • Mark Basseley Youssef[2]
  • Yousseff M. Basseley
  • Nicola Bacily
  • Robert Bacily
  • and several others[3]
Occupation(s)Writer, producer,
former gas station owner.[4][5][6]
Known forWriter, producer of the anti-Islamic video Innocence of Muslims[1]

Mark Basseley Youssef (Arabic: مارك باسيلي يوسف, born 1957), formerly known as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (Arabic: ناكولا باسيلي ناكولا), is an Egyptian-American[1] writer, producer, and promoter of Innocence of Muslims, a film which was critical of Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1][7][8][9][10]

On July 2, 2012, a "Sam Bacile",[11] who was later identified as Nakoula, posted English-language promotional trailers for Innocence of Muslims on YouTube. The videos were later dubbed into Arabic and posted on the Internet in September 2012. Demonstrations and violent protests against the video broke out on September 11 in Egypt and spread to other Arab and Muslim countries and some western countries. These protests led to more than 50 deaths and hundreds of injuries.[12][13]

On September 27, 2012, U.S. federal authorities stated that Nakoula had been arrested in Los Angeles and charged with violating terms of his probation. Prosecutors stated that the violations included making false statements regarding his role in the film and his use of the alias "Sam Bacile".[5]

On November 7, 2012, Nakoula pleaded guilty to four of the charges against him and was sentenced to one year in prison and four years of supervised release.[14][15]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference isikoff2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kim, Victoria (September 28, 2012). "Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's aliases duped many, prosecutor says". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PJ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference judge jails was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Jailed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference bensinger2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference flaccus2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference nissenbaum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference smiley was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Economy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference trailer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Death, destruction in Pakistan amid protests tied to anti-Islam film". CNN. September 21, 2012. Archived from the original on November 23, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  13. ^ "Egypt newspaper fights cartoons with cartoons". CBS News. Associated Press. September 26, 2012. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  14. ^ Kim, Victoria (November 7, 2012). "'Innocence of Muslims' filmmaker gets a year in prison". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  15. ^ Nakoula profile Archived July 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, thesmokinggun.com; accessed 23 July 2014.