IPS does not want Hagai Amir released

Brother of Rabin's murderer being investigated for threatening to kill Sharon.

By YAAKOV KATZ
rabin special 298 (photo credit: )
rabin special 298
(photo credit: )
The Prisons Service (IPS) said Thursday it would recommend not to release Hagai Amir, an accomplice to the Yitzhak Rabin assassination, at a parole board hearing he will face in January. Hagai Amir, brother of Yigal Amir who murdered Rabin following a peace rally in Tel Aviv 10 years ago, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in the plans to assassinate the prime minister. The parole board, if convened, will review recommendations from the IPS, as well as fromsocial workers and from Amir, before making its decision whether he deserves a reduced sentence. According to Israeli practice, prisoners are entitled to have a third of their sentence cut if they follow prison regulations and behave appropriately. IPS officials said they would not recommend releasing Amir, due to the recent opening of a criminal investigation against him. Police are investigating him for allegedly threatening to murder Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "As long as there is an open investigation against him, we will recommend he stay in prison and not be released," one IPS officer said. Amir's attorney Shmuel Kasper said his client would ask the board for an early release. "He was not the murderer and there is no reason that if he has already served a majority of his sentence he should not be released," Kasper said.