New York
Man gets 6-month sentence for ramming car into Jewish group’s NY world headquarters
NEW YORK (AP) — A man was sentenced Wednesday to six months and a week behind bars for ramming his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters, the Jewish institution in New York where his lawyer said he’d been trying to win acceptance as he struggled with psychological issues.
Dan Sohail, 36, was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court by a judge who declined a recommendation by prosecutors that he force Sohail to remain behind bars for another eight months. The sentence clears the way for the New Jersey man, who has already spent six months in detention, to be released in about a week.
Prosecutors had sought a stiffer sentence as a wider warning to those who might attack Jewish interests amid a dramatic rise in hate crimes against the Jewish population.
Judge Eric N. Vitaliano said he was “somewhat saddened” to see that the Justice Department wanted him to be influenced at sentencing by a mistaken initial impression among the wider public that the Jan. 28 attack was a hate crime.
No one was injured when Sohail drove his car into the Chabad Headquarters’ side entrance five times, knocking the door off its hinges and destroying his car’s front bumper. Before he drove toward the building, he waived passersby away, a fact the judge mentioned at sentencing as he ordered him to pay $20,000 restitution.
The complex at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn includes a synagogue and offices, and was bustling with people at the time, authorities there said.
Prosecutors in their arguments prior to sentencing noted that “a staggering” 80 of 146 hate crime incidents across New York City since the start of the year were based on crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions.
Vitaliano said the government’s argument for a stiff sentence to send a deterrent message to the general public was in part based on the fact that the attack was initially cast as an “I-hate-the-Jews crime, or, worse, an act-of-terrorism crime.”
But he noted that federal prosecutors ultimately charged the Carteret, New Jersey, man with intentionally damaging religious property and Sohail pleaded guilty in mid-May.
The judge cited a psychiatric report he reviewed and said Sohail’s mental health challenges “played an important role” in his decision-making.
Defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg told the judge in court papers prior to the sentencing that Sohail was battling depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatizing childhood when he carried out the attack even as he “desperately sought belonging and understanding through his exploration of Judaism.”
She said Sohail attended the Chabad he eventually attacked and “found the rabbinical students there warm and welcoming.”
Eisner Grynberg said Sohail “danced with them” and followed their instructions to visit Israel, but he became erratic and extremely anxious after he returned to the United States and was “begging” members of the Chabad to assist him.
Driving the car into the building, she said, was “an irrational cry for help.”
The crash occurred on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson becoming the leader of the Lubavitch movement and prompted immediate concern in the city. Schneerson died in 1994, but remains a revered figure globally. There has been a near-constant police presence around the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters for years.
The site was at the epicenter of the Crown Heights riots in 1991, when Black residents of the neighborhood attacked Jews after a child was killed by a car traveling in Schneerson’s motorcade. In 2014, a disturbed man entered the synagogue and stabbed a rabbinical student, wounding him, before being shot dead by police.
Guyana
Caribbean court rules that a U.S. extradition process against opposition leader can resume
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A U.S. extradition process against Guyana’s main opposition leader and his father wanted on gold smuggling and money laundering charges can resume after they had legally challenged the request, a Caribbean regional court ruled on Wednesday.
The Caribbean Court of Justice ruled against Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed who were indicted in Florida last year in a case that has underscored persistent government corruption in the oil-rich South American nation.
Azruddin Mohamed, who leads the second-largest party in Guyana’s Parliament, was elected the country’s opposition leader in January, just six months after founding the We Invest in Nationhood Party.
The two have denied the accusations and fought the extradition proceedings before the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad, which serves as the final court of appeal for several countries in the region.
It was not immediately clear when the proceedings would resume.
“This is, of course, a complicated matter,” Justice Winston Anderson said during the hearing, which was livestreamed.
Attorneys for the Mohameds did not speak during the hearing and did not return messages seeking comment later. The defense had argued that some of the charges the duo face are not extraditable offenses.
Azruddin Mohamed was seen sitting outdoors during the proceedings, smiling occasionally. After the hearing, he posted a video on social media saying that “the work of the people must continue.”
Meanwhile, Nazar Mohamed told The Associated Press that while it is too early to react comprehensively, their attorneys would advise on the way forward.
“It is a 256-page judgement,” he said. “Our lawyers are checking it through. Based on what lawyers say, all is not lost as yet. ... We will be fighting all the way.”
Azruddin Mohamed is one of Guyana’s wealthiest citizens. He and his father have been out on bond since their arrest last year following the U.S. extradition request.
The U.S. Treasury Department also has sanctioned the duo for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of gold to the United States from Guyana, and evading more than $50 million in taxes.
The Mohameds had been among Guyana’s largest gold buyers and exporters, selling gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, according to the U.S. Justice Department. They also ran one of the most successful foreign exchange outlets and possess extensive real estate holdings.
While the U.S. government has targeted the two, it remains on friendly terms with the administration of Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali as the country experiences an economic boom thanks to massive offshore oil deposits that Venezuela has long claimed as theirs.
Man gets 6-month sentence for ramming car into Jewish group’s NY world headquarters
NEW YORK (AP) — A man was sentenced Wednesday to six months and a week behind bars for ramming his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters, the Jewish institution in New York where his lawyer said he’d been trying to win acceptance as he struggled with psychological issues.
Dan Sohail, 36, was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court by a judge who declined a recommendation by prosecutors that he force Sohail to remain behind bars for another eight months. The sentence clears the way for the New Jersey man, who has already spent six months in detention, to be released in about a week.
Prosecutors had sought a stiffer sentence as a wider warning to those who might attack Jewish interests amid a dramatic rise in hate crimes against the Jewish population.
Judge Eric N. Vitaliano said he was “somewhat saddened” to see that the Justice Department wanted him to be influenced at sentencing by a mistaken initial impression among the wider public that the Jan. 28 attack was a hate crime.
No one was injured when Sohail drove his car into the Chabad Headquarters’ side entrance five times, knocking the door off its hinges and destroying his car’s front bumper. Before he drove toward the building, he waived passersby away, a fact the judge mentioned at sentencing as he ordered him to pay $20,000 restitution.
The complex at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn includes a synagogue and offices, and was bustling with people at the time, authorities there said.
Prosecutors in their arguments prior to sentencing noted that “a staggering” 80 of 146 hate crime incidents across New York City since the start of the year were based on crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions.
Vitaliano said the government’s argument for a stiff sentence to send a deterrent message to the general public was in part based on the fact that the attack was initially cast as an “I-hate-the-Jews crime, or, worse, an act-of-terrorism crime.”
But he noted that federal prosecutors ultimately charged the Carteret, New Jersey, man with intentionally damaging religious property and Sohail pleaded guilty in mid-May.
The judge cited a psychiatric report he reviewed and said Sohail’s mental health challenges “played an important role” in his decision-making.
Defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg told the judge in court papers prior to the sentencing that Sohail was battling depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatizing childhood when he carried out the attack even as he “desperately sought belonging and understanding through his exploration of Judaism.”
She said Sohail attended the Chabad he eventually attacked and “found the rabbinical students there warm and welcoming.”
Eisner Grynberg said Sohail “danced with them” and followed their instructions to visit Israel, but he became erratic and extremely anxious after he returned to the United States and was “begging” members of the Chabad to assist him.
Driving the car into the building, she said, was “an irrational cry for help.”
The crash occurred on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson becoming the leader of the Lubavitch movement and prompted immediate concern in the city. Schneerson died in 1994, but remains a revered figure globally. There has been a near-constant police presence around the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters for years.
The site was at the epicenter of the Crown Heights riots in 1991, when Black residents of the neighborhood attacked Jews after a child was killed by a car traveling in Schneerson’s motorcade. In 2014, a disturbed man entered the synagogue and stabbed a rabbinical student, wounding him, before being shot dead by police.
Guyana
Caribbean court rules that a U.S. extradition process against opposition leader can resume
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A U.S. extradition process against Guyana’s main opposition leader and his father wanted on gold smuggling and money laundering charges can resume after they had legally challenged the request, a Caribbean regional court ruled on Wednesday.
The Caribbean Court of Justice ruled against Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed who were indicted in Florida last year in a case that has underscored persistent government corruption in the oil-rich South American nation.
Azruddin Mohamed, who leads the second-largest party in Guyana’s Parliament, was elected the country’s opposition leader in January, just six months after founding the We Invest in Nationhood Party.
The two have denied the accusations and fought the extradition proceedings before the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad, which serves as the final court of appeal for several countries in the region.
It was not immediately clear when the proceedings would resume.
“This is, of course, a complicated matter,” Justice Winston Anderson said during the hearing, which was livestreamed.
Attorneys for the Mohameds did not speak during the hearing and did not return messages seeking comment later. The defense had argued that some of the charges the duo face are not extraditable offenses.
Azruddin Mohamed was seen sitting outdoors during the proceedings, smiling occasionally. After the hearing, he posted a video on social media saying that “the work of the people must continue.”
Meanwhile, Nazar Mohamed told The Associated Press that while it is too early to react comprehensively, their attorneys would advise on the way forward.
“It is a 256-page judgement,” he said. “Our lawyers are checking it through. Based on what lawyers say, all is not lost as yet. ... We will be fighting all the way.”
Azruddin Mohamed is one of Guyana’s wealthiest citizens. He and his father have been out on bond since their arrest last year following the U.S. extradition request.
The U.S. Treasury Department also has sanctioned the duo for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of gold to the United States from Guyana, and evading more than $50 million in taxes.
The Mohameds had been among Guyana’s largest gold buyers and exporters, selling gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, according to the U.S. Justice Department. They also ran one of the most successful foreign exchange outlets and possess extensive real estate holdings.
While the U.S. government has targeted the two, it remains on friendly terms with the administration of Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali as the country experiences an economic boom thanks to massive offshore oil deposits that Venezuela has long claimed as theirs.
