‘Innocence of Muslims’ filmmaker Mark Basseley Youssef due in court
Mark Basseley Youssef’s house in Cerritos, California. The Egyptian-American is suspected of producing the anti-Islam movie that provoked outrage across the world.
Mark Basseley Youssef, the Egyptian-American man behind the 'Innocence of Muslims' movie, is due in court Wednesday to establish whether he disobeyed the terms of his probation.
Federal prosecutors claim that he violated his probation order on eight counts, according to the Associated Press.
Youssef, who is also known by the name of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, was convicted of bank fraud in 2010. As part of the conditions for his release from jail, he is banned from accessing the internet or adopting aliases without his probation officer's consent.
His association with the anti-Islam footage posted on YouTube by one "Sam Bacile" – thought to be another of Youssef's aliases – prompted authorities to investigate whether or not he broke those rules.
At Wednesday's hearing in Los Angeles, California, a judge is expected to ask Youssef whether he denies the violations. If he does, prosecutors will have to present their evidence otherwise at a later hearing.
If they can prove their case, he could return to jail, the AP said.
More from GlobalPost: Anti-Islam filmmaker arrested
Youssef has been in a federal detention center in LA since late September, according to Reuters, when he was arrested for the alleged probation violations and ordered held without bail to prevent him fleeing.
He is not being charged in connection with the content of the controversial anti-Islam film, which triggered anti-American protests around the world, some of them violent.
He does face a civil lawsuit over the movie, however: one of the film's actresses, Cindy Lee Garcia, is suing him for fraud and slander, claiming that he never informed her about its anti-Islam agenda.
More from GlobalPost: 'Innocence of Muslims' actress sues filmmaker
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