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Filmmakers on trial in Egypt

September 18, 2012

Egypt's public prosecutor has said seven Egyptian Coptic Christians are to go on trial over the anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," that has sparked outrage in the Middle East. The defendants do not live in Egypt.

https://p.dw.com/p/16BBQ
REFILE - UPDATING CAPTION WITH IDENTITY OF PERSON BEING ESCORTED Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (C) is escorted out of his home by Los Angeles County Sheriff's officers in Cerritos, California September 15, 2012. Nakoula, a California man convicted of bank fraud has been escorted to an interview with federal officers probing possible probation violations stemming from the making of an anti-Islam video that has triggered violent protests in the Muslim world, police said on Saturday. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman said Nakoula voluntarily left his home, accompanied by sheriff's deputies, to meet with the officers in the Cerritos Sheriff's Station. The obscure 13-minute English-language video, which was filmed in California and circulated on the Internet under several titles including "Innocence of Muslims," portrays Prophet Mohammad engaged in crude and offensive behavior. REUTERS/Bret Hartman (UNITED STATES - Tags: RELIGION CRIME LAW POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Image: Reuters

The seven people face charges of "insulting the Islamic religion, insulting the Prophet (Muhammad) and inciting sectarian strife" for their involvement in the production or distribution of "Innocence of Muslims," Egypt's public prosecutor said on Tuesday.

No date has been set for the trial of the seven people, who all reside outside of Egypt. An American pastor who has said he supports the film, Terry Jones, is also being charged.

Egypt has no authority to make the filmmakers - who include the suspected main filmmaker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, pictured above - appear in front of the court, but they could be tried in absentia.

The film depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and child abuser. Illustrations of any kind of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam. Protests in several Muslim countries have killed at least 18 people, including four US diplomats at the US embassy in Libya.

In an unrelated case on Tuesday, a Coptic Christian living in Egypt was sentenced to six years in jail for mocking Muhammad and insulting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on a social networking site.

Bishoy al-Behiery was found to have posted offensive images of the prophet on Facebook, which got him three years of his sentence. Two years were added on for his insults to Morsi, and one additional year was added on because Beheiry insulted the person who brought the lawsuit over the images against him in the first place.

mz/msh (dpa, AP, AFP)