Illinois man sentenced to seven years for defacing Northwestern University with swastikas, Nazi symbols

Shahid Hussain, of Niles, Ill., was sentenced to seven years in prison for defacing Northwestern University property with swastikas and other Nazi symbols, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday.

Hussain, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of hate crime and one count of institutional vandalism. Surveillance footage showed Hussain spray-painting the symbols on campus property and making a Nazi salute on Jan. 30, prosecutors said. Cook County Judge Paul Pavlus sentenced him during a hearing in Skokie, Ill.

“Acts of hate and intimidation have no place in our communities,” Eileen Burke, the Cook County state’s attorney, stated. “This guilty plea and prison sentence demonstrate that we will hold individuals accountable for crimes intended to intimidate and spread hate in our communities.”

Hussain was previously convicted of hate crime and institutional vandalism in 2022 for a series of incidents targeting Jewish schools and synagogues in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood. He was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.