Extremist internet troll jailed

The man who threatened the writers of South Park for depicting the prophet Muhammad has been jailed for 11 and a half years.

Jesse Curtis Morton, who called himself Younus Abdullah Muhammed after converting to Islam, encouraged Muslims to engage in violence against those he deemed to be enemies of the faith.

After one South Park episode pictured Mohammad – albeit disguised in a bear suit – he published the home addresses of the show's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and encouraged readers to ‘pay them a visit’.

US attorney Neil MacBride said: ‘Jesse Morton sought to inspire Muslims to engage in terrorism by providing doctrinal justification for violence against civilians in the name of Islam. His crimes not only put people's lives forever in danger, but they also chilled free expression out of fear of retaliation by violent terrorists.’

In February Morton pleaded guilty to making threatening communications and using the internet to conspire to commit murder.

Morton worked on the website postings with Zachary Chesser, of Virginia, who was last year sentenced to 25 years for threatening the South Park writers and to other charges.

Following that case Morton was arrested in Rabat, Morocco, and brought back to the US, and admitted helping Chesser make repeated steps to encourage extremists to attack the South Park writers.

Here’s how Mohammed featured in the South Park episode:

Published: 23 Jun 2012