Yigal Amir to leave solitary confinement within days

Yigal Amir, assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, is set to leave solitary confinement in the coming days, the Prisons Service confirmed Wednesday.

Amir spent 17 years in solitary detention, in line with repeated court extensions of his prison terms.

Prison officials, citing intelligence and police evaluations, have expressed concern that Amir posed a danger to other prisoners, adding that he himself was under potential threat from fellow inmates.

The Prisons Service said Wednesday that Amir will not be moved into an open prison ward, but instead will be held in a cell with two to four other inmates who will be carefully selected ahead of time.

Earlier this year, the High Court of Justice ruled that Amir could study Torah with other prisoners.

In 2006, the Prisons Service removed CCTV cameras that were monitoring him 24 hours a day, and allowed him to receive visitors.

The Prisons Service revaluates Amir’s conditions every six months. Amir is serving out a life sentence for Rabin’s murder and a further six years for injuring the former prime minister’s bodyguard in the Tel Aviv shooting in 1995.

Responding to the decision to end Amir’s isolation, Meretz party secretary-general Dror Morag said it was a mistaken and outrageous move “that is aimed at sending a forgiving message towards a murderer of a prime minister, who never expressed remorse for his actions.” Morag added that Amir is “a despicable and dangerous murderer who does not deserve a lightening of his punishment.”

The Meretz representative expressed concern that Amir could use his interactions with other prisoners to radicalize them and “spread his murderous doctrine.”