NewStats: 3,261,971 , 8,175,720 topics. Date: Saturday, 31 May 2025 at 10:44 AM j1g5i

This is the first picture of the man said to be behind the anti-Islam movie that has triggered violence across the Middle East.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula – also known as Sam Bacile – was last week named by the FBI as the film-maker responsible for Innocence Of Muslims, which ridicules the prophet Muhammad.

The Mail on Sunday has exclusively obtained this on-set image of him with the film’s star Anna Gurji, who says she was duped by the 55-year-old director.

Nakoula is an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian. Now living in California, he is a convicted drug dealer and conman who was last released from jail in June last year.

The film has ignited anti-US clashes from Morocco to Malaysia. Seven people have been killed, thousands injured and last night the rioting had spread to Sydney, Australia. It was also reported that Sudan had rejected a US request to be allowed to send in Marines to protect its embassy.