A man who defaced property at Northwestern University with hateful symbols was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Shahid Hussain, 43, of Niles, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of hate and one count of institutional vandalism. Cook County Judge Paul Pavlus sentenced Hussain during a hearing in Skokie.
Hussain was accused of entering the Northwestern campus on Jan. 30 to draw swastikas and other Nazi symbols on numerous signs and other university property. Surveillance video also shows him raising his arm in a Nazi salute.
“Acts of hate and intimidation have no place in our communities,” State’s Attorney Eileen Burke said in a statement. “This guilty plea and prison sentence demonstrate that we will hold individuals accountable for crimes intended to intimidate and spread hate in our communities.”
Evanston police found Hussain, and Northwestern police arrested him on Feb. 12, when he admitted to defacing the property with Nazi symbols, prosecutors said.
It wasn’t the first time.
In 2022, Hussain was convicted of hate crime and institutional vandalism for incidents involving a Jewish day school, several synagogues and a kosher bakery. He was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Northwestern University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
