LOS ANGELES (MCT) — As rioting over the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” spread across the Muslim world, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton both deplored the film’s message but defended the free speech rights of its creators. In Clinton’s words: “We do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they may be.”

But now one of the film’s creators, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, is sitting in jail in downtown Los Angeles. He faces two years in prison for allegedly violating the terms of his probation through his actions surrounding the film’s production. News of his arrest and detention has been widely covered around the world, causing some to worry about the perception that the United States was punishing Nakoula because of the content of his movie.