Cairo ( CNN ) -- Seven Coptic Egyptians living abroad were sentenced to death Wednesday by a court in Cairo for their connection to an inflammatory anti-Islam film , the prosecutor 's office said . The suspects are accused of being involved with the production of the film in California , said Adel Al Saeed , official spokesman for the prosecutor 's office . Since the Egyptian citizens were tried in absentia , the sentence would be applied only if they returned to Egypt . Protests against the `` Innocence of Muslims '' film erupted in September in many Muslim countries , including Egypt , Yemen , Tunisia , Morocco , Sudan , Iran , Iraq , Israel and the Palestinian territories . Watch : Why the film upset so many Muslims . The amateurish film portrays the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer , buffoon , ruthless killer and child molester . Islam categorically forbids any depictions of Mohammed , and blasphemy is an incendiary taboo in the Muslim world . Backed by hardcore anti-Islam groups in the United States , the film sparked outrage after an Arabic translation of the film 's trailer was released online a few weeks before the anniversary of September 11 . Opinion : We still need answers on Benghazi . In Cairo , some protesters scaled the wall of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag , replacing it with a black flag adorned with an emblem used by Islamic radicals . Police and army personnel had to be deployed to prevent demonstrators from advancing on the compound . Actress sues filmmaker , YouTube in federal court . The film was also initially implicated in a violent demonstration in Libya that left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead on September 11 . Earlier this month , the Egyptian-American man behind the film was sentenced in California to one year in federal prison after admitting to violating the terms of his probation from a 2010 bank fraud case . The amateur filmmaker , Mark Basseley Youssef , also was ordered to serve four years of supervised release after his prison term . He was identified in initial news accounts in September as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula , the name used in the bank fraud case . Egyptian-American behind anti-Islam film denies violating probation . CNN 's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report .
Prosecutor : 7 Coptic Egyptians are sentenced to death over involvement in an anti-Islam film . The suspects , accused of being involved with the film 's production , are living abroad . Protests broke out in several Muslim countries in September against the amateurish film . The man behind it was jailed earlier this month in California in a separate case .