Egypt seeks arrest of anti-Islam filmmaker

Kashmiri Muslim protesters hurl objects at Indian police during a protest in Srinagar, India, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, as part of widespread anger across the Muslim world about a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad. / AP Photo/ Dar Yasin

(CBS/AP) CAIRO - Egypt's general prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor and referred them to trial on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that has sparked riots across the Muslim world.

The case is largely symbolic since the seven men and one woman are believed to be outside of Egypt and unlikely to travel to the country to face the charges. Instead, the prosecutor's decision to take legal appears aimed at absorbing at least some of the public anger over the amateur film, which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womanizer and buffoon.

A statement from the prosecutor on Tuesday said Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Copt living in southern California and believed to be behind the film, is among those charged. So is Florida-based Pastor Terry Jones, who has said he was contacted by the filmmaker to promote the video.

Ultraconservative Salafi lawyer Mamdouh Ismail praised the prosecutor's decision. While recognizing that the eight will be tried in absentia, Ismail said referring them to trial will help curb public anger.

"Now these are legal measures instead of angry reactions, whose consequences are undetermined," he said. "This would also set a deterrent for them and anyone else who may fall into this" offense.

The prosecutor's statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, said that after studying the film investigators have determined that it contains scenes offensive to Islam and state institutions. It also says they questioned 10 plaintiffs before issuing the charges.

Nakoula, 55, told the AP in an interview last week outside Los Angeles that he was the manager of the company that produced "Innocence of Muslims." Jones also told AP that he was contacted by Nakoula to promote the movie.

The film, clips of it appeared on YouTube, mocked the Prophet Muhammad and drove small but angry crowds to protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Egypt and an attack on the American Consulate in Libya. Other protests have erupted across the Muslim world over the video, including Afghanistan, Yemen and Indonesia.

Tensions continued to simmer Tuesday.

U.S. Coptic Christians, Muslims denounce anti-Muslim film

While demonstrations have tapered off in nations including Egypt and Tunisia, protests turned violent in Pakistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir and hundreds of people rallied in Indonesia and Thailand.

In Kabul, the Afghan capital, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying South African aviation workers to the airport, killing 14 people in an attack that a militant group said was revenge for the film.

At least 10 protesters have died in riots in several countries, bringing the total number of deaths linked to unrest over the film to 24.

U.S. officials describe the video as offensive, but the American government's protection of free speech rights has clashed with the anger of Muslims abroad who are furious over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

In a statement, al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb praised the killing of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11. The group threatened attacks in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania, and condemned the United States for "lying to Muslims for more than 10 years, saying its war was against terrorism and not Islam."

In Pakistan, hundreds of angry protesters broke through a barricade outside the U.S. Consulate in the northwest city of Peshawar, sparking clashes with police that left several wounded on both sides, said police officer Arif Khan. The demonstrators threw bricks and flaming wads of cloth at the police, who pushed them back by firing tear gas and rubber bullets and charging with batons. The protest was organized by the youth wing of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party.

In Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, a strike shut down businesses and public transportation as marchers burned U.S. flags and an effigy of President Barack Obama. When the protesters tried to march into the main business district, police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse them, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Protesters hurled rocks at the troops, he said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

In Indonesia, about 200 people from various Islamic groups torched an American flag and tires outside the U.S. Consulate in the third largest city of Medan. Some unfurled banners saying, "Go to hell America," while others trampled on dozens of paper flags. Also Tuesday, about 100 Muslim students in Makassar, a city in central Indonesia, called for the death penalty against the filmmaker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Some 400 people protested peacefully outside the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand's capital. Protesters carried signs and banners saying, "We love Prophet Muhammad" and "Stop insulting our religion," and chanted, "Down with America" and "Down with Israel."

[dasgimp01]

These people, and I use the term lightly, do not need much to riot. They have nothing better to do. We still have freedom of speech to some degree and the film maker decided to exercise his right. I praise his courage to do so in light of the current world affairs. I missed the last riot we had when ssome Islamic heckeled God. When was it? When these people start getting toilets in there homes, maybe they will be more tolerable of the rest of the world and stop thinking they are the only ones that matter.

[AlaskaHound]

Do a search on gay john christopher stevens, you'll be surprised why he died and what the administration is really hiding...

[sdemaggie]

Flashback to Jimmy Carter (Shah)-BO's administration pulls the rug out from under Our biggest ally in the middle east in the niave belief that the "revolution" is a popular uprising for democracy. What a fool! This is the middle east!

[chonder2]

I talked to a friend who saw the movie trailer.

He says the threatening, murdering and blood letting trailer is an exact depiction of what is going on right now.

[hamiltongrad]

dOES ANYONE RECALL NEWSWEEK AND THE PHONEY ARTICLE TO BASH BUSH, THUS CAUSING 12 PEOPLE TO DIE ? THERE WAS NOT MUCH OF AN AMERICAN UPROAR, BECAUSE WE HAVE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. GOD SAVE US ALL.

[IPonUall2]

I was banned under a different handle, probably because the people on this site don't like my opinions of religion, politics, economics and our friend the banking industry...or it could have been something I said that violates their view of morality...they don't tell you, they just kick you and when you look for info, all you get is "your account is suspended."
Well I have other accounts, and will try to observe the rules here, but it seems some of my opinions may not be in line with some on the top of the so called economic ladder, I say "so called" because it has rungs missing.

[Molly-Pchr]

They go off at the slightest provocation, real or imagined. Don't they have jobs, families, lives? For heaven's sake. This is getting boring.

[formerlyluvnut]

TOTALLY the dumbest thing I have read this week.

[Martha12345]

Obama and Eric Holder are busy trying to find ways to send these folks to Egypt for trial.

[IPonUall2]

You know that ain't gonna happen.
Stop trying to put words and actions in the administrations' work tray.

[MickProPer]

The film itself (at least the "trailer" - which is all anybody has actually seen) is a piece of badly-dubbed crud, and shouldn't even be dignified with the term "film"!

That being said however, we need to make it CLEAR to the Egyptian government, and to anybody else who might be listening, that we - as a nation - will not tolerate having our citizens "charged" for the exercise of their First-Amendment rights within our own borders.

Unless the Egyptian government withdraws these charges, they should immediately lose ALL American funding. As far as I am concerned, anybody who believes differently is not a good American, and I won't even waste my time arguing with such traitors!

[betterusa]

Good post; I agree 100% with your statement.

[IPonUall2]

Regardless, as stupid as his video is, it is extremely stupid...
We cannot simply drop the constitution in favor of the bigoted quran.
Egypt may have a trial in absence, but it cant be honored in America as a trial. I would prefer to send them Bush and Cheney in his place....anyone think that would be a good idea?