Court debates removing Yigal Amir from confinement

State considers moving Rabin assassin to coupled segregation; Shin Bet opposes, says he poses risk of ideological indoctrination to inmates.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
311_yigal amir in court [file] (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_yigal amir in court [file]
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Supreme Court on Monday debated over the appeal of Yitzhak Rabin assassin Yigal Amir to be removed from solitary confinement for the coming year.
During the debate, the state said it was willing to transfer Amir to coupled segregation, in which another prisoner would join Amir in a cell. However, Amir's attorney said he rejected the idea.
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In response to the argument in which officials believe Amir may indoctrinate others once he comes out of solitary confinement, Amir said "I had no intention to indoctrinate and I have no I idea what indoctrination is being referred to."
Differences between the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the attorney general were visible during the hearing. The Shin Bet's position is that Amir should remain in solitary confinement due to the ideological risk he poses and the impact that may have on other inmates.
Amir's wife, Larissa Trimbobler, said before the hearing that "conditions which Amir is being held in are considered torture in other places of the world. The state wants to torture him. The Shin Bet claims that he has a dangerous ideology? He has no such ideology," Trimbobler said. "The time has come to remove him from solitary confinement in which he is being held."
Amir appealed to the Supreme Court to be removed from solitary confinement in the Rimonim Prison. "I am interested in integrating into the ultra-Orthodox wing so that I will be able to pray and be in the company of other people," he claimed in his petition.
Last week, relying on the Shin Bet's position, the Israel Prison Service opposed Amir's appeal and claimed that he has the motivation to spread his extremist indoctrination to an audience and those that are close to him. They also feared that there is a risk that other inmates may try to harm Amir as revenge for the assassination of Rabin.


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