![](\"images\/stories\/news1\/anti_islam_video_protests.jpg\")
Egyptian prosecutor’s office has issued arrest warrants for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor for their alleged role in an anti-Islam video that has sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world. <\/p>\nEgyptian prosecutor’s office has issued arrest warrants for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor for their alleged role in an anti-Islam video that has sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world. <\/p>\n
The warrants were released on Tuesday, referring the defendants to trial on charges linked to the film entitled “Innocence of Muslims” which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womaniser and buffoon.<\/p>\n
Riots triggered by the video resulted in the deaths last week of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his colleagues.<\/p>\n
The four men were attacked in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, where an armed rebellion that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi last year started.<\/p>\n
More protests against the video have been held in Arab and Muslim countries – including Afghanistan, Yemen and Indonesia – with demonstrators calling on the US to punish the people behind the video.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The decision to take legal action appears aimed at placating some of the public anger over the amateur film whose trailer has attracted tens of millions of views on YouTube.<\/p>\n
Key defendants<\/p>\n
Among those charged is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Copt living in southern California and believed to be behind the film. Others include Florida-based Pastor Terry Jones, who has said he was contacted by the filmmaker to promote the video and Morris Sadek, a conservative Coptic Christian in the US who pushed the video on his website.<\/p>\n
The connection of the other five accused in the case to the film was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n
Nakoula, 55, told the AP news agency in an interview last week outside Los Angeles that he was the manager of the company that produced “Innocence of Muslims”.<\/p>\n
Jones also told AP that he was contacted by Nakoula to promote the movie.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the accused, who include the film’s alleged producer, face charges of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information.<\/p>\n
The office said they could face the death penalty, if convicted.<\/p>\n
No date for the trial has been set.<\/p>\n
Mamdouh Ismail, an ultraconservative Salafi lawyer, praised the prosecutor’s decision.<\/p>\n
While recognising that the eight will be tried in absentia, Ismail said referring them to trial will help curb public anger.<\/p>\n
“Now these are legal measures instead of angry reactions, whose consequences are undetermined,” he said.\u00a0 “This would also set a deterrent for them and anyone else who may fall into this” offence.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor’s statement, a copy of which was obtained by AP, said that after studying the film investigators have determined that it contains scenes offensive to Islam and state institutions.<\/p>\n
It also says they questioned 10 plaintiffs before issuing the charges.<\/p>\n
Source: Aljazeera & agencies<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Egyptian prosecutor’s office has issued arrest warrants for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor for their alleged role in an anti-Islam video that has sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n