Five men were sentenced to jail for terms ranging from five days to two years for the harassment and brutal beating of a Sikh man in New York in July 2004.

The men were convicted on Thursday of attacking Rajinder Singh Khalsa, 50, outside a restaurant in New York's Queens borough.

Trial evidence showed that the men taunted Khalsa and his friend, Gurcharan Singh, 51, calling Khalsa's turban, as a 'dirty curtain'.

The men then punched Khalsa in the face repeatedly, breaking his nose and causing other injuries, according to trial testimony.

Nicholas Maceli, 22; his brother Salvatore Maceli, 26; their stepfather, Victor Cosentino, 58; Terence Lyons, 53; and Ryan Meehan, 24 were  the defendants.

On December 5, Justice Seymour Rotker found the Maceli brothers guilty of second-degree assault.

Salvatore Maceli was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of post-parole supervision while Nicholas was sentenced to six months in jail, five years probation, and ordered to do 150 hours of community service with the Sikh Coalition, a rights group.

Meehan and Lyons were convicted of second-degree irritated harassment as a hate crime.

Meehan was sentenced to 60 days in jail, three years probation and 150 hours of community service with the Sikh Coalition and Lyons 20 days in jail, three years probation and 50 hours of community service with the Sikh group.

Cosentino was sentenced to five days in jail.