Mohammed filmmaker to feds: Put me in with the general population in jail

Handcuffed with a chain around his waist and wearing white prison attire that signifies he is under protective custody, the one-time gas-station attendant is accused by federal authorities of violating his parole on a 2010 bank fraud scheme when he used a string of aliases and lied to probation officers about his role in the making of the amateurish, crudely-made flick that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, pedophile, and homosexual. He also is accused of possessing a driver’s license under a false name.

The 55-year-old father of three who is based in Cerritos, Calif., and has been in federal lockup since last month, denied under oath that he violated terms of his probation, and although Muslim extremists want him dead, asked U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder through his attorney, Steve Seiden, if he could be taken out of protective custody and put in the general population. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale argued that the bizarre request, which would place him in close proximity to hundreds of inmates, would be “unwise.”