US Man Sentenced To 53 Years In Prison For Killing SARA-Motivated Palestinian-American Boy

Defendant's seat/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Wesley Tingey

JAKARTA - A Illinois man, United States (US), was sentenced to 53 years in prison on Friday after being convicted of the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy.

The attack, which also left a severe wound on the boy's mother, was called a SARA-motivated prosecutor, an anti-Muslim hatred.

Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and stabbed Hanan Shaheen days after US ally Israel began its war in Gaza following an attack on October 7, 2023 by Palestinian Hamas militants.

The prosecutor said the stabbing - one of the earliest and worst racial crime incidents in the US since the start of the war - was triggered by anti-Muslim hatred.

US human rights defenders noted an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab hatred, and antisemitism.

Judge Will County Amy Bertani-Tompzak's prison sentence covers 30 years for the child's murder, 20 years for attempted murder of a mother and 3 years for racial crimes, prosecutors said.

Czuba stabbed the boy 26 times with a knife with a 7-inch (18 cm) long servy bar, authorities said.

Shaheen suffered several stab wounds in the attack that took place at Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.

Czuba was found guilty in February.

Meanwhile Shaheen testified that he had testified in a trial that revealed Czuba told him "You, as a Muslim, must die."

Czuba previously pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney claimed that the prosecutor had appealed to the jury