Yigal Amir briefly taken out of solitary confinement

-

Yigal Amir, who assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, was released from solitary confinement Saturday morning at the Rimonim prison near Netanya.

He had been separated from the general prison population since his incarceration 17 years ago, first at Beersheba’s Eshel facility and later at Ayalon prison in Ramle, before being transferred to the Rimonim facility in 2006.

The government did not submit a request this year, as it had done for 16 years in a row, to keep Amir in solitary.

The Israel Prison Service said Wednesday that Amir will not be allowed to join an open wing in which prisoners are free to come and go from their cells. Instead, the assassin, who is serving a life sentence without parole, will join one to three other inmates in a locked cell and be allowed to walk in the prison yard for two hours a day.

As part of his new holding conditions, Amir will be able to meet with other prisoners, watch television, enjoy more frequent phone calls, and have more frequent meetings with visitors who come to see him at the prison.

Amir has spent most of the last 17 years under 24-hour surveillance, per the recommendations of the Prison Service and the police, who argued that other prisoners may attempt to take his life in retaliation for the assassination.

Amir continues to be considered a security threat to the state because he has not shown remorse for Rabin’s murder.

Since 2006, Amir has been allowed limited interaction with other prisoners for prayers and Torah studies.

Earlier this year, Amir’s brother Hagai, who was convicted of abetting in the crime, was released from prison.

Times of Israel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Huge Japan Quake Cracked Open Seafloor

-
The March 2011 megaquake off the coast of Japan opened up fissures as wide as 6 feet (3 meters) in the seafloor, a new study finds. The fissures now scar the seafloor where peaceful clam beds once lay, according to Takeshi Tsuji, a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan . Along with seismic studies, the fissures, revealed by manned submersible vehicles that investigated the seafloor after the quake, show how the crust around the quake's epicenter expanded and cracked.
Read more

Index for a million documents on Polish Jewry to go online

-
Researchers of Polish Jewry are set to gain online access to more than 1 million new documents following an agreement signed by the Polish State Archives. Under the agreement signed last week, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland will receive indices to the documents from the Polish archives authority and place them on the website of the online database within one year, a JRI-Poland statement read.
Read more

A lot of the bread in the US will no longer be kosher

-
The largest baking company in the United States will be removing kosher certification from nearly all of its bread and rolls. Bimbo Bakeries USA confirmed to JTA that it will be removing the certification. The company produces brands including Arnold, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Freihofer’s and others. Two of its major brands, Entenmann’s and Thomas, will remain certified kosher. So, kosher eaters, your crumb doughnuts and English muffins are still safe. A couple of rye breads also will retain their certifications. “Removing the kosher certification from some of our products was strictly a business-process decision to enable more efficient operations, and it was one we did not make lightly,” Bimbo said in a statement. “Thomas’ and Entenmann’s products as well as Arnold’s and Levy’s Rye Breads will remain kosher-certified. It is important to note that we have heard our consumers’ concerns and are working with kosher certification organizations and discussing alternative solutions.” The c
Read more