Hana "Phara" Beshara sits in an Alexandria, Virginia jail cell, awaiting her transfer into the federal prison system. Beshara, the voice and face of now-defunct movie download site NinjaVideo, didn't expect to be in prison yet. Despite a plea deal with the government under which she was sentenced to serve 22 months in jail and pay $200,000 to the Motion Picture Association of America, the judge allowed Beshara to self-surrender in several weeks, once the Bureau of Prisons decides where she will go (she's hoping for Martha Stewart's old digs in West Virginia.)

But that was before Beshara began posting messages about her sentence to the NinjaVideo Facebook account and other places. "I never snitched, I never left NinjaVideo, and I will always be proud of this incredible world we built, this community that touched millions," she wrote. "I hold my head high. Always. Ride or die, no? THIS SHIT IS NINJA."

In the three days after her January 6 sentencing, Beshara posted to Facebook more than 25 times. "know this," she wrote. "IMA RUN MY FUCKING CELL BLOCK. :)" She told her community not to worry, since she grew up in Brooklyn and "can shank it up with the best of them. o_O"

Lack of remorse

Government lawyers apparently work weekends. Beshara's sentencing was on Friday; on Monday, two Assistant US Attorneys working her case went back to Judge Anthony Trenga and asked him to revoke Beshara's self-surrender and send her to jail immediately, all based on her Internet posts.

Beshara "criticized the government, celebrated NinjaVideo.net's copyright infringement, and sought to assemble a public relations team to engage media and documentary filmmakers to help her 'fight back,'" wrote the government lawyers. Her posts not only showed "a clear lack of remorse over her illegal conduct," but Beshara's "shank" wisecrack showed that she "may engage in physical violence with her future fellow inmates." Calling the MPAA "poor victims" amounted to mocking "the named victim of her crimes."

Beshara's lawyer fought back. Beshara was just "letting off some steam in her online community," he told the judge. As for the comments about running her cell block, "Ms. Beshara won't even be on a cell block. She is clearly joking."

The real issue seems to be Beshara's lack of remorse. Indeed, she hasn't shown any. After sentencing, she helped to organize a Kickstarter campaign that would fund a documentary about her story. She organized a Street Team. She held online "staff meetings" to organize volunteers. And she wants publicity for the story.

"I'm attractive," she wrote in one Facebook posting. "Shocking, yes. I should be a troll in a basement with acne and pizza shoved between my fat rolls. But I'm not... so, good job feds, I am the last person you want to be the poster child... People want a beautiful victim and I'm prettier than the MPAA."

She wants volunteers with media contacts to spread the word about her story, and to set her up with photo shoots in Maxim or GQ. ("I"m not doing nude shoots, but I'm not a stranger to modeling.")

Commenting on a piece of fan artwork, Beshara called it a "beautiful example of why there will never be any remorse." She was proud of the community she helped to build and always insistent that she made little money from it.

Off to jail

This is hardly what the government wants to see from those who have pled guilty. Beshara's lawyer argued that "Ms. Beshara's exercise of her First Amendment right to express her displeasure at being sent to jail is not a basis for reconsideration of self-surrender," but the decision was up to the judge.

On January 11, Beshara penned a personal letter to Judge Trenga in which she called her online postings "boorish" and said that the "bluster" was a "defense mechanism."

I am in hysterics right now thinking about losing [the NinjaVideo community]. Please do not take them away from me in these next few weeks. Those strangers around the world, as well as my parents, lifted me up when I was fetal on my apt floor following a raid. There is no threat of recidivism... I will not break the law again. In fact, I listened very closely to what you said at my sentencing about advocacy and the proper ways of conducting civil disobedience, and that is what we're doing now.

The letter didn't work. On January 13, Beshara was summoned to a hearing on the matter. Judge Trenga revoked Beshara's right to self-surrender; she left the courtroom in the custody of the US Marshals. Her best friend Candee, who meet Beshara through the NinjaVideo forums, tells Ars that she was "devastated and a little confused" when the judge sent Beshara to jail, bringing her few weeks of freedom to an abrupt end.

The government declined our request for comment, pointing instead to its court filings in the case.