A Brooklyn landlord was sentenced to prison Wednesday for setting fire to his Cypress Hills property while a family of eight, including six young children, slept inside after previously threatening to burn down the building during a rent dispute.
Rafiqul Islam, 68, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree arson on April 28, 2026, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
According to the investigation, the defendant owned 212 Forbell St., a two-story, two-family home in the Cypress Hills. On Sept. 26, 2023, at approximately 5:17am, a tenant on the second floor noticed a burning smell from outside his family’s apartment. The tenant exited the apartment and saw smoke and flames coming up from the interior stairwell – the only point of egress within the building, prosecutors said.
As the fire spread, the entire family, including six children, ages 1 to 8, were forced to climb out of a back window. From there, two adult tenants were able to drop the children into the arms of neighbors waiting approximately 20 feet below. The two tenants then jumped to the ground. One of the tenants called 911, Gonzalez said.
Video surveillance obtained by FDNY Fire Marshals shows Islam walking toward the building wearing a mask and carrying a bucket and a garbage bag. Additionally, video surveillance captured immediately before the tenant’s 911 call shows the defendant leaving the building. Witnesses were subsequently able to identify the defendant from the surveillance footage, according to prosecutors.
Police arrested Islam on Oct. 25, 2023. The defendant said he was angry that the tenants had stopped paying rent and refused to move out of the building, according to prosecutors. There were three prior complaints lodged between the defendant and the tenants dating back to February 2023. They include accusations from the tenants that the defendant threatened to cut off the family’s power and, later, set fire to the building, Gonzalez said.
“This defendant turned a rent dispute into a life-threatening act of violence, setting fire to a home where a family, including six children, slept," Gonzalez said in a statement. "These children were forced to flee the blaze and be dropped into neighbors’ arms below. The victims in this case endured an unimaginable ordeal, and today’s sentence ensures the defendant is held accountable for the trauma he inflicted on this family and his community.”
