Cook County Prosecutors Secure Seven-Year Prison Sentence in Northwestern University Hate Crime Case

CHICAGO — The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced today that Shahid Hussain has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison for defacing numerous signs and property with swastikas and other Nazi symbols on Northwestern University’s campus. 

Hussain, 43, of Niles, pled guilty to two counts of hate crime, and one count of institutional vandalism, all class 2 felony offenses.  Cook County Judge Paul Pavlus sentenced Hussain today during a hearing at the Cook County Courthouse in Skokie.   

According to prosecutors, on January 30, 2026, surveillance video shows the defendant enter the Northwestern campus drawing swastikas and other Nazi symbols on numerous signs and other university property.  The video also shows the defendant raise his arm in a Nazi salute.  Northwestern University police officers identified Hussain from the surveillance video on the date of the crime and from previous incidents at the university. 

The defendant was located by Evanston Police and arrested on February 12, 2026, by Northwestern Police.  At that time, Hussain admitted to defacing the property with the Nazi symbols. Hussain also has prior 2022 convictions for hate crime and institutional vandalism involving incidents at a Jewish day school, several synagogues, and a kosher bakery. He was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for those offenses.  

“Acts of hate and intimidation have no place in our communities,” said State’s Attorney Eileen Burke. “This guilty plea and prison sentence demonstrate that we will hold individuals accountable for crimes intended to intimidate and spread hate in our communities.” 

This case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Goldberg of the CCSAO’s Hate Crimes Unit, which is part of the office’s Multi-Jurisdiction Bureau. and specializes in the prosecution of bias-motivated offenses. 

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