Omri Sharon begins prison term

The son of the former PM arrives at the Tel Aviv District Court to start serving his sentence.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
omri sharon 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
omri sharon 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
A day after his comatose father Ariel Sharon turned 80, an expressionless Omri Sharon reported to the Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday morning to begin his seven- month prison sentence for handling illegal election donations. Earlier, Sharon, 43, had taken his three daughters to kindergarten. Carrying two kit bags, Sharon battled his way though a gauntlet of cameramen and photographers at the courthouse and was harassed along the way by far-right activists Itamar Ben-Kfir and Baruch Marzel, who hurled anti-disengagement slogans at him. "We won't forget and we won't forgive," Marzel told Sharon from close quarters. "We will haunt you until your last day," another activist was heard shouting. Sharon did not respond. He was then transferred to the Ma'asiyahu Prison in Ramle, where he will share a cell with either five or seven other inmates, Israel Prisons Service spokesman Yaron Zamir told The Jerusalem Post, depending on the size of the cell. Before coming to the court house, Omri visited his father at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. If Sharon senior's health suddenly deteriorates, Omri will be able to submit an urgent request to visit his father in the hospital, Zamir told the Post. He said Sharon's jail conditions would be exactly the same as those of other inmates. "We're not making any special preparations," Zamir said. "He will be in a normal prison cell with other prisoners who have been jailed for a variety of offences." The Ma'asiyahu prison is a low-security facility that can hold up to 900 inmates. In the world of prisons, Ma'asiyahu is a sort of haven, to which prisoners who have successfully weaned themselves off drugs and have proven good behavior come from other prisons, and partake in round-the-clock educational programs. Sharon may find some consolation in the description of his soon-to-be fellow inmates, who, according to Ma'asiyahu's official Web site, have "self-discipline, who have shown diligence in their work ethic or education, who have taken part in care programs, and who know that the slightest transgression from the norms of conduct will cause them to be sent back to a closed facility."