The government has recommended long prison terms for the 12 Hanafi Moslem sect members who seized hostages at the B’nai B’rith headquarters and two other building here last March. A six-page memorandum to Judge Nicholas Nunzio of the District of Columbia Superior Court asked that the leader of the Hanafi group, Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, be imprisoned for 123 years for second degree murder and kidnapping during the three-day siege. A Black news reporter was killed during the seizure of the District Building, Washington’s City Hall, and a number of people were injured at B’nai B’rith.
Khaolis’ codefendants would be given sentences ranging from 45 to 90 years in prison under the government’s recommendation. A jury convicted the 12 on multiple charges last month after an eight-week trial. The penalty for second degree murder and kidnapping ranges from five years to life imprisonment. The recommendations were made by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Tuohey and Martin Linsky. Nunzio is to sentence the Hanafis next Tuesday.
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