( 4UMF NEWS ) First Photo Of Anti-Islam Filmmaker:
Federal investigators questioned — but later released — one of the filmmakers behind the incendiary anti-Islam video that sparked violent clashes across the Middle East. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was taken in for questioning near his Southern California home early Saturday, officials said.
But Nakoula, who is on probation, was not arrested and investigators said his appearance at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office was voluntary.
The Egyptian-born filmmaker has since gone into hiding, according to The Associated Press.
“He is gone,” Steven Whitmore, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told the news wire services. “We don’t know where he went. He said he is not going back to his home.”
Nakoula, 55, is at the center of the probe into the amateurish movie “Innocence of Muslims,” which slanders the prophet Muhammed and triggered protests at several U.S. government buildings in the Middle East. During a demonstration in Libya, which may have been used as cover by terrorists, an American ambassador and three of his colleagues were killed.
Nakoula — who wore a coat, scarf and hat pulled down to hide his face when taken from his Los Angeles-area home just after midnight — was convicted of a check-kiting scheme in June 2010.
He was sentenced to 21 months in prison but only served one year. He’s on probation but could return to prison if he is found to have violated the conditions of his release. A judge barred Nakoula from using the Internet for five years.
