"The Punishment Is Death."

May 19th, 2011 -- 10:25 pm ET

Islamic extremist in New York charged with threatening South Park writers


The depiction of Mohammad that sparked the threats from Revolution Muslim in 2010. Credits: Comedy Central.
CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 has reported tonight that Muslim extremist Jesse Curtis Morton (aka Younus Abdullah Mohammad) has been charged in New York for making threats against South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone over a 2010 episode of South Park that depicted the Muslim prophet Mohammad.

According to a report from the IPT Blog "Morton helped run a website, RevolutionMuslim, with Zachary Chesser. Chesser is serving a 25-year prison term after pleading guilty to a similar charge and to trying to provide material support to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab."

On April 14th, 2010 the animated series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone produced an episode that showed the Muslim prophet Muhammad dressed in a bear suit, and since its airing has caused a wave of controversy throughout the Muslim world.

A chilling reply was sent out the week after the episode aired when remarks made by Revolution Muslim stated "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality that will likely happen to them."

Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker who was assassinated in 2004 by an Islamic extremist for his personal take on the Muslim religion in both films and books.

The website for Revolution Muslim went further than just a veiled threat, when Chesser posted information on the site for the general population about where the creators of South Park work and live. This was accompanied by a sermon from a wanted cleric in Yemen outlining the punishments for blasphemy against the Muslim religion.

According to the IPT Blog "In an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Paula Menges, Chesser then collaborated with Morton on a "clarification statement" triggered by media inquiries.

"The Clarification Statement" continued IPT "contained pages of justification under Islamic law for the death of those who insult Islam or defame its prophet, and for Muslims to bring about such deaths," Menges wrote. "In it, Morton and Chesser asserted in pertinent part that 'we will never tolerate the mocking or insulting of any one of the prophets,' and explained that the Islamic ruling on this situation was that 'the punishment is death."