WASHINGTON – An Illinois man was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison after a jury convicted him in the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the severe wounding of his mother in an October 2023 hate crime stabbing, prosecutors said.
Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed Hanan Shaheen days after U.S. ally Israel began its war on Gaza following an October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.
Prosecutors said the stabbing – one of the earliest and worst hate crime incidents in the U.S. since the start of the war – was sparked by anti-Muslim hatred. U.S. rights advocates have noted rising Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate and antisemitism.
The prison sentence by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak included 30 years for the child’s murder, 20 years for the attempted murder of the mother and 3 years for hate crime, according to prosecutors.
Czuba, who was the landlord for Shaheen and her son, stabbed the boy 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, authorities said.
Shaheen suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack that occurred in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.
Czuba was found guilty in February. Shaheen testified during the trial that Czuba told her “you, as a Muslim, must die.”
Czuba had earlier pleaded not guilty.
REUTERS