From CP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
MONTREAL (CP) — A 19-year-old man was sentenced to 40 months in prison on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to arson in the firebombing of a Jewish elementary school last year.
Sleiman El-Merhebi’s sentencing came nine months after the fire at the United Talmud Torahs school, a firebombing that provoked widespread outrage, including Prime Minister Paul Martin’s description of the act as “cowardly and racist.”
Although Quebec court Judge Jean Sirois sentenced El-Merhebi to 40 months, he gave him credit for the eight months he has already spent in detention, which counts as double time.
“The sentence beginning today is two years in prison,” Sirois said.
Sirois said that while El-Merhebi’s youth and lack of a criminal record were mitigating factors, the severity of the crime and the fact it targeted a religious group and an elementary school merited a stiff sentence.
“The accused left at the scene a message that demonstrated clearly his intentions to seek revenge on the Jewish community for acts commited overseas, to spread terror by hitting harder next time,” Sirois said in citing his reasons for the sentence.
“This tract sought the effect of further intimidating the Jewish community.”
The Crown had sought a two-year sentence for what it called an act of “terrorism.”