AhlulBayt News Agency: A 73-year-old Illinois man has been sentenced to 53 years in prison for a hate-fueled stabbing attack that killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously injured his mother in October 2023, shortly after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Joseph Czuba was convicted in February of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and committing hate crimes in the killing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the stabbing of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.
A judge sentenced him on Friday to 30 years for the boy’s death, 20 years for the assault on Shaheen, and an additional three years for the hate crime convictions. The sentences will run consecutively, likely ensuring Czuba spends the rest of his life in prison.
Prosecutors argued that Czuba targeted the family because of their Muslim faith and his reaction to the Middle East conflict, which had begun just days earlier. The family, originally from Palestine, had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, a suburb southwest of Chicago. Until the attack, there had reportedly been no serious disputes between the parties.
During the trial, prosecutors presented graphic evidence, including crime scene photos and testimony from Shaheen. She recounted how Czuba suddenly told her that Muslims were not welcome anymore and that she and her son needed to leave. When she resisted, he attacked her, stating, “He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die.’” Czuba then turned on her son, stabbing him 26 times and leaving the knife in the child’s body.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald told jurors: “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body”.
Shaheen, who suffered more than a dozen stab wounds, survived after weeks of recovery. Police found Czuba outside the house with blood on his clothes and hands.
Ahmed Rehab, head of CAIR-Chicago, called the sentencing a measure of accountability, stating: “Wadee was an innocent child. He was targeted because of who he was—Muslim, Palestinian, and loved”.
The attack sent shockwaves through the local Palestinian community. Wadee’s funeral drew a large turnout, and a park playground has since been named in his memory.
Wadee was not the last target of hate-motivated attacks in the US as the rates of such anti-Muslim attacks have increased in the past two years.
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