Yigal Amir, who is serving a life sentence for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will serve out his prison sentence amongst the general prison population.

Amir has been in solitary confinement since his arrest for Rabin’s murder 17 years ago. Until 2006 he was under camera surveillance 24 hours a day.

Amir’s case, likely that of all prisoners in solitary confinement, has been reviewed every six months by a committee of the Israel Prison Service since his incarceration. The committee accepted the recommendation of the Shin Bet security service and the police that he remain separated from other prisoners and be kept in solitary confinement. The main reason for this was concern he might be killed by other prisoners. A secondary reason was that Amir had never expressed remorse for his crime.

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But in May of this year, the court approved a request by Amir that he be allowed to pray with up to three other prisoners every day, and it recommended that the prison service revisit the issue of Amir’s solitary confinement. It was since decided to move him into the general population.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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