Defendant in Kahane Case Faces Prison

An Arab immigrant acquitted of murder in the death of militant Rabbi Meir Kahane was sentenced Wednesday to up to 22 years in prison on lesser charges. The judge chastised the jury for its verdict.

El Sayyid Nosair, found guilty on assault and weapons charges, received the maximum sentence for shooting two men and trying to hijack a taxi as he fled the hotel where Kahane was slain in November, 1990.

State Supreme Court Justice Alvin Schlesinger said Nosair was acquitted of murder “against the overwhelming weight of the evidence” and called the verdict “devoid of common sense and logic.”

“I believe the defendant’s conduct constituted, figuratively, a rape of this community,” he said.

Before the sentencing, Nosair, a U.S. citizen who was born in Egypt, declared that he was not guilty.

Several people were ejected from the courtroom for screaming during Nosair’s remarks.

Outside the courthouse, about 100 Kahane supporters demonstrated and shouted slogans. Police barricades separated them from a like number of Nosair supporters a few yards away, and there were no reports of violence.

Nosair, 36, of Cliffside Park, N.J., was found guilty Dec. 21 of gun possession, assault and commandeering a taxi at gunpoint.

Schlesinger imposed maximum sentences on each count--2 1/3 to seven years on each of two second-degree assault and one coercion charge, and five to 15 years for weapons possession.

The judge ordered that the assault and firearm charges be served concurrently to make the sentence between seven and 22 years.