Store owner who tried to make fire look like a hate crime sentenced

Store owner who tried to make fire look like a hate crime sentenced

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Story Published: Jun 29, 2007 at 4:21 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 29, 2007 at 5:07 PM PDT

By Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) - A 39-year-old man has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to four years and three months in prison for conspiracy to commit arson.

Mizra Akram was charged in August 2004 in connection with the arson of his store in Everett, Continental Spices. Akram was found guilty in February following a one-day bench trial.

Federal prosecutors say the fire was staged to look like a hate crime with racist graffiti spray painted on the walls.

On Tuesday, Judge Marsha Pechman told Akram she found it particularly cowardly that someone would use this kind of graffiti and leave the community to believe that others were involved. Prosecutors said Akram caused members of the local Muslim community to believe that the store was a victim of racist violence and that they, too, might be at risk of attack.

Akram is a citizen of Pakistan with legal residency in the United States. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle says he could be deported following his prison term.

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