The man who shot a Jewish teacher to death in Yemen last December was handed a light sentence by a local court on Monday, raising fears that a new wave of anti-Semitism could be on the horizon.

The attack occurred in the central market in the northern Yemen town of Rida, where defendant Abdel al-Abdi demanded that local Jewish teacher Moshe Nahari convert to Islam and then opened fire after apparently receiving a negative reply.

The court ordered al-Abdi, a retired Yemeni air force pilot, to pay the state a $250,000 fine for the killing. The judge also deemed al-Abdi "mentally unstable," and therefore unable to serve any jail time for his crime.

In remarks carried by the Associated Press, Nahari's lawyer expressed concern that the light sentence could open the doors to more anti-Semitic attacks and the eventual ejection of Yemen's remaining Jewish population.