An Afghan born man who stabbed a Rabbi in the German city of Frankfurt has been sent to jail for 3 and a half years. A court ruled that the man, who admitted stabbing the rabbi, did not intend to kill him. The man identified as Sajed A., who has German citizenship, was sentenced to 42 months in jail by the Frankfurt District Court for the September 2007 stabbing of Rabbi Zalman Gurevich. Sajed, who said he was acting in self-defense, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm. Had he been convicted of attempted murder – as Gurevich's attorney, Rolf Döring, had argued – Sajed could have been jailed for 15 years.
The state prosecutor had asked for a minimum of four years, while Döring had asked for five years and eight months. Gurevitch, who required emergency surgery after the stabbing, is planning to appeal the sentence based on the grievous bodily harm conviction, according to media reports. The rabbi testified that he had been on his way home from Sabbath services when Sajed shouted at him, "Shitty Jew, I will kill you," and stabbed him in the stomach. Sajed later said he had been driven by fear of the rabbi, who was the larger of the two men. Some witnesses said the two men had argued before the stabbing. However, this could not be verified because two Jewish witnesses who live abroad said they were afraid for their safety and would not testify.
