Man Guilty In Attacks On Jewish Sites In Montreal

Man Pleads Guilty To Firebombing Jewish Sites In Montreal, Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison

(AP)  An Algerian-born man pleaded guilty Thursday to firebombing two Jewish institutions in Montreal and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Omar Bulphred entered guilty pleas to three counts of arson and two counts of making threats in the attacks on a Jewish boys school in 2006 and a Jewish community center in 2007. He wrote letters claiming the crimes were committed in the name of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Judge Louise Bourdeau told Bulphred his actions were intolerable in a free, democratic society. Children were inside the school just minutes before it was firebombed, and the judge said she did not want to imagine what might have happened if the attack had occurred while they were there.

Bulphred, 23, who has 40 months to serve in his sentence because of time already served awaiting trial, apologized to the Jewish community before he was sentenced.

Another defendant, Azim Ibragimov, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to four years in prison. Both men were arrested in April 2007.