High Court: Amir can attend son's brit in prison

Labor activists plan to block road to prison to prevent family of Rabin's assasin from attending.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
yigal amir court 224 (photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
yigal amir court 224
(photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
The High Court of Justice on Friday rejected several appeals against a decision by the Tel Aviv District Court to allow Yigal Amir, the assassin of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to attend his son's brit mila (circumcision ceremony) at Ayalon Prison on Sunday. The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said that Amir would be allowed to attend the brit with a handful of family members but that it would be "void of any other ceremonial or celebratory signs." Army Radio reported that young Labor Party activists planned to block the road to the prison to prevent Amir's family from attending the brit. Those who petitioned the High Court included members of Labor and public relations mogul Rani Rahav. "Rabin's assassin is the idol of certain people and must not be allowed to celebrate," Rahav had said, adding that there was no certainty that the boy was Amir's at all. On Thursday, Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decided against filing an appeal on behalf of the state against Amir's attendance, stating that it would be difficult to establish legal grounding for such an effort. The petitioners claimed that Amir had merited extraordinary treatment since he never regretted his actions. They called Mazuz's decision "extremely unreasonable." Public figures from the left also blasted the decision. "We must not mention the prime minister's assassin following the birth of his son," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio Thursday. Former defense minister Amir Peretz said that Amir's baby "has become a source of leverage for those sources seeking to legitimize a future release of the killer." Peretz told the radio station that "the court must rule that Amir has no right to attend his son's ceremony, either outside or inside prison." On Thursday, Shimon Sheves, the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office under Rabin, said: "As someone who has lived in this country and raised children here I simply wish to die following this cynical decision." When Amir's wife Larissa Trimbobler gave birth last week, Amir initially appealed to the IPS with a request for a short leave to attend the brit. The IPS, however, was quick to turn down the application, citing Amir's "danger to society and society's danger to him" and a concern that he would contact "right-wing elements" during his short vacation. Amir then appealed to the Tel Aviv District Court with a similar request. However, anticipating refusal, he asked that, should he be denied leave, he would at least be allowed, as an alternative, to hold the brit in prison. Army Radio reported that during the deliberation of Amir's original request to be granted a short leave to attend the brit, Judge Zvi Gurfinkel called the state attorney's proposal to broadcast footage of the ceremony to Amir's cell "preposterous and inapplicable." It bears mention that the same court approved conjugal visits last year after the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) said the couple did not pose a security risk.