The first photo of the man whom federal authorities blame for making the anti-Muslim movie that incited widespread violence throughout the Middle East and beyond — including the death of a U.S. ambassador — has been released to the public.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says Nakaula Basseley Nakoula — who goes by the name Sam Bacile — made the movie Innocence of Muslims, which mocks the prophet Muhammad and enraged Muslims worldwide. The FBI also accuses the filmmaker of duping a young woman into being into the film who is now living in fear for her life, reports the Daily Mail.
The above photo was obtained by the British publication the Daily Mail showing Nakoula sitting next to one of he film’s stars Anna Gurji. She now says she was tricked into being in the film by Nakoula, 55, and that she was told the movie was about something else entirely.
Nakoula has a complicated and sordid past. First of all, Nakoula is an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian, the Daily Mail reports. He is living in California today, but he is allegedly a convicted drug dealer and conman who was last released from jail in June last year.The film has ignited anti-US clashes from Morocco to Malaysia. At press time, a total of seven people have been killed, thousands injured and last night the rioting had spread from Libya in Northern Africa to Sydney, Australia.
The newspaper reports that the Sudan in Africa has rejected a plea from the United States to send military troops into the country in order to protect the embassy there and those who are in it fearing for their lives.
Gurji, 21, is an actress who plays Muhammad’s child bride, recounts the betrayal by Nakoula to the Daily Mail and how it has destroyed her life at least in the short term, and perhaps much longer.
“I was playing the youngest bride of a character named George,’ she said. ‘I had no idea George would be changed to Muhammad. I’m locked up in my house. I’m terrified people in the Middle East will blame me,” she says. “I’m Catholic so they might think I have something against Muslims. I’m taking pills to sleep. I’ve been crying for days. I feel betrayed. My face is stuck on the movie clip. People see that awful film and they see me.’
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