East St Louis, I'll - Prison Term for Threat Against President

East St Louis, I'll - A mental patient who threatened to castrate President Bush was sentenced to federal prison, but a judge ordered him freed because of time he's already served.

Arafat Nijmeh, 27, was sentenced to seven months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of threatening the president. He was released after U.S. District Judge David Herndon credited him with the eight months he spent in custody after being charged.

Nijmeh was accused of threatening to harm Bush in comments to workers at the Alton Mental Health Center and to two Secret Service agents the following day. Nijmeh told the agents that his earlier threat to castrate Bush was "not too harsh, considering what he has done to my country."
Nijmeh is a Palestinian born in Israel but a U.S. citizen.

Secret Service agent John Brooks has testified that Nijmeh told a supervisory nurse at the center he was going to "make her life a living hell'' and threatened to kill Jews.