From The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin: A graduate student at Binghamton Universityin Binghamton, N.Y., who stabbed a professor to death in 2009 has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, a 48-year-old Saudi national, admitted in court that he stabbed Richard Antoun repeatedly on Dec. 4, 2009. The plea agreement calls for Al-Zahrani to be sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years post-release supervision. Al-Zahrani’s behavior, as described by other students, was erratic in the days and weeks before he stabbed Antoun, a professor emeritus in the university's anthropology department. Antoun, 77, was an expert on cultures in the Middle East and had published several well-known works, including a book about fundamentalism.
DECEMBER 2009...from The New York Times: A 46-year-old Binghamton University graduate student from Saudi Arabia has been charged with killing a retired anthropology professor, a specialist in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies with whom he had worked. The professor, Richard T. Antoun, was stabbed in his office in the university’s Science I building in Binghamton, N.Y. Antoun served on the dissertation committee for the student, Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani. The killing was met with grief on the Binghamton campus, which is nearing the end of the fall semester. The university, which is part of the State University of New York system, has an enrollment of 15,000 students.ALSO: Roommate says he warned university about suspect's erratic behavior.
