Yigal Amir to be allowed to have child

Rabin murderer to petition High Court for right to conjugal visits.

By YIGAL GRAYEFF, JOSEPH FLESH
yigal amir court298 88aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
yigal amir court298 88aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has given permission on Tuesday to Yigal Amir to have a child with his wife Larissa Trimbobler through artificial insemination. IPS commissioner Lt.-Gen. Yaakov Ganot made the decision following a request from Amir, and after taking advice from State Prosecutor Eran Schneider, the IPS said. It added that Amir, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, wouldn't be allowed to leave the prison to provide the relevant samples. IPS spokesman Ofer Lefler said Amir's request was granted because it didn't pose a security threat, but he declined to say whether it should have been turned down because of the nature of his crime. "That's not a question for me, that's a question for the academics," said Lefler, adding that it was something that had been granted to criminal prisoners but not to security prisoners, who include Palestinian terrorists. This is because none had made an application. "If there was a request we would consider it," he said, although he noted that artificial insemination was something that "doesn't happen in Arab society." Despite Tuesday's decision, Amir won't be allowed to consummate his marriage to Trimbobler. "For security prisoners there are no conjugal rights," said Lefler. "There is a security problem in allowing this." Nonetheless, Amir's lawyer in a previous case said he intends to fight the regulation. "In light of this decision, Amir plans to file a case to the High Court of Justice for the right to conjugal visits with his wife," said Shmuel Casper. The decision to allow Amir to have a child provoked a mixed reaction, with Yosi Lahmani, the chairman of the Rabin Center, condemning it. "An extraordinary murder requires different treatment," he said. "The state must deny the lowly and despicable murderer rights that are given to other prisoners. [The fact that] the murder was committed against the State of Israel and Israeli democracy must be taken into consideration." Labor MK Yoram Marciano, a former aid to Shimon Peres, attacked his ex-boss for not speaking out on the matter. "Allowing Yigal Amir to have a child is a political decision of Kadima," said Marciano. "Peres's deafening silence is a mark of shame for a man who was Rabin's partner. Peres has abandoned the Rabin legacy and adopted the immorality of [Internal Security Minister] Gideon Ezra and his friends in Kadima." However, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel approved the IPS's decision. "Human rights aren't left at the prison doors. Yigal Amir, despite the terrible crime he committed, has the same entitlement as any other prisoner to his basic human rights. Therefore, the ACRI supported Amir's right to marry, as we have supported the rights of other prisoners to father children, and we welcome the decision not to withhold this right from Amir," it said. At the beginning of last month, the State Attorney's Office instructed the Interior Ministry to recognize Amir's marriage to Trimbobler after the couple appealed to the High Court of Justice. The ministry had initially refused to do so despite a Rabbinical Court ruling that validated the wedding ceremony, which was carried out by courier.