Anti-Islam film maker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, released from prison

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man allegedly behind the inflammatory film "Innocence of Muslims," has been granted supervised release from a federal prison, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Bureau of Prisons records show the 56-year-old Nakoula is at an undisclosed halfway house in Southern California.

He technically remains in federal custody, but the tentative release means he can leave the facility for a few hours a day. Until recently, he had been held behind bars at a correctional institution in Anthony, Texas.

Nakoula is due to be formally freed next month, according to records.

He had been incarcerated since September 2012 for a probation violation related to a 2010 bank fraud conviction. None of the charges was connected with the content of the controversial film, Innocence of Muslims

Nakoula came to the world's attention after his movie, a trailer of which had been posted to YouTube, was highlighted last September by Egyptian media.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was sentenced by a judge in California after admitting four violations which stem from a 2010 conviction for fraud. After the 2010 conviction, Nakoula had served most of a 21-month jail sentence for using more than a dozen aliases and opening about 60 bank accounts to conduct a cheque fraud scheme, prosecutors said.

The Los Angeles Times said that it was while he was in prison that he read the Koran, looking for ways to criticise Islam.

Dozens of people died in the Middle East in protests over the film.

A government minister in Pakistan, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, had offered $100,000 reward to anyone who will murder the maker of the 'Innocence of Muhammad' film, which has sparked riots and violence across the Muslim world.

The minister belongs to the secular Awami National Party, an ally in the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. The ANP is also the ruling party in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said in television appearances that the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound was the result of a spontaneous demonstration over the film, which was produced in the United States. Her assertions later proved untrue.

Culled from CNN