LOS ANGELES: A California man behind an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests in the Muslim world appeared in court in Los Angeles yesterday for a hearing.
The man, known publicly as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, has been in federal custody since late last month and was due to appear before a US district court judge under his legal name, Mark Basseley Youssef, court papers showed.
The film sparked a torrent of anti-American unrest in Egypt, Libya and dozens of other Muslim countries last month. The violence coincided with an attack on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya.
US authorities, as outrage against the film mounted, said they were not investigating the film itself. But prosecutors have said they could seek to have Youssef, 55, sent back to prison for up to two years if he is found to have violated his probation.
Under the terms of his release from prison last year, Youssef is barred from using aliases without the permission of a probation officer and was restricted from accessing the Internet. He is facing eight possible probation violations, including the use of aliases, prosecutors said.
Youssef was ordered held without bail last month following a brief hearing in which prosecutors accused him of violating probation, and he has since been held at a high-rise federal jail in downtown Los Angeles.
Anti-Islam filmmaker appears in court
Anti-Islam filmmaker appears in court
Seven killed, scores missing as passenger ferry capsizes off southern Philippines
MANILA: At least seven people died after a passenger boat carrying more than 300 people capsized off the southern Philippine province of Basilan, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
The accident occurred after midnight on Monday as the passenger vessel, MV Trisha Kerstin 3, was en route to Jolo in Sulu province, after departing Zamboanga. The PCG said the vessel had 332 passengers on record and 27 crew.
Coast Guard Commander Romel Dua of Southern Mindanao District told DZBB radio that 215 people had been rescued and seven bodies recovered, while search and rescue operations continued for 144 others who remained missing.
Dua said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident.
Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman shared on Facebook clips from the scene at Isabela port in Mindanao which showed survivors being ushered off boats, some wrapped in thermal blankets, and others being carried on stretchers.
Scores of people die each year from ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands with a patchy record for maritime safety.
