Michigan women gets 30 days in jail for throwing pie at Sen. Levin

A federal judge in Grand Rapids sentenced an antiwar activist and her accomplice to 30 days in jail for hitting Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) in the face with a dutch apple pie in August 2010.

Ahlam Mohsen, 23, and Max Kantar, 24, were sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert after they both pleaded guilty to assault on a member of Congress, according to the Associated Press.

Sentencing guidelines called for eight to 12 months in prison.

The pie throwing came after a speech by Kantar, who criticized Levin -- the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- for his stance on U.S. foreign policy issues, including tolerating "Israel war crimes against the Palestinian people." After Mohsen pied the senator, both tried to flee the scene but were arrested.

After being hit in the face with the pie, Levin remarked that someone who "hits somebody with something doesn't understand the blessings of America."

"Carl Levin is one of the most respected senators in Congress," Mohsen had told reporters after the incident. "People tend to blame the war on Republicans, but we wanted to target Levin today to send a message that liberals and Democrats are just as implicated in the violence as the Republicans."

Mohsen's has previously faced arrest for her activism. According to The Daily Reporter, in January of 2009, Mohsen faced prosecution for trespassing during a sit-in at the Michigan office of Levin.

In November of 2009, Moshen was reportedly arrested by Israeli authorities and deported to the US while she was visiting a family in Palestine. Ahlam was a guest of the al-Kurd family when on the morning of 3 November 2009 Israeli settlers burst in and seized part of the building. Contrary to eyewitness accounts, the police claim the then-21-year-old attacked them.