Alleged filmmaker sent to jail

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was ordered before the court in Los Angeles, reportedly for a probation violation.

"The court has a lack of trust in the defendant at this time," Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal said on Thursday, citing a pattern of deception and the possibility Nakoula was a flight risk.

The hearing was linked to a bank fraud conviction, court officials said.

Over the past couple of weeks, probation officials have been investigating whether Nakoula, 55, had violated the terms of his 2011 release from prison on a bank fraud conviction while making the film dubbed, among other titles, "Innocence of Muslims".

In 2010, Nakoula was sentenced to 21 months in jail. When released in June 2011, he was forbidden from accessing the internet or using aliases without the permission of a probation officer, as a condition of his parole.

The 13-minute film, which portrays the Prophet Mohammad in a negative light, was filmed in California and has been marketed online.

On September 11, a clip from the film shocked the Muslim community, sparking an anti-American backlash and protests across the Muslim world.

The ensuing violence coincided with an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

tm/av (AFP, dpa, Reuters)