Hagai Amir, brother and accomplice of Rabin's assassin, released from prison

[Scurrilous]

Amir was convicted of conspiring with brother Yigal Amir to kill Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and was held for 16.5 years in solitary confinement; Friends say he expresses no regrets.

<snip>

"Hagai Amir, who was convicted of conspiring with his brother Yigal Amir to kill Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was freed from Ayalon Prison on Friday morning, after being held for 16 and a half years in solitary confinement.

Members of his family met him outside the prison and take him to a West Bank settlement for the weekend. His parents are expected to join him there for a family celebration.

A police contingent was present as Amir was released, because of the presence of his family, as well as both left-wing and right-wing activists. Roughly 40 activists loyal to Meretz and Working and Learning Youth movement were on site to protest Amir’s release.

Some activists said to Amir’s family: “We will yet wipe the smile off of your faces.”

Dror Morag, the Meretz party secretary-general, responded to the release. “We are here to prevent the next Yigal Amir. We must remember that even today, this man does not regret his actions, nor apologize for them,” said Morag."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/hagai-amir-brother-and-accomplice-of-rabin-s-assassin-released-from-prison-1.428136

[oberliner]

1. Did he go on a hunger strike?

That seems to be the way to try to get out of jail before your sentence is up.

Although, in this case, it seems like he did, indeed, serve his full sentence for his crime.

[Ken Burch]

4. The killers of Rabin are actually guilty of many more crimes

You could fairly argue that the blood of everyone who has died in the I/P dispute since Rabin's murder is on THEIR hands...because it may well be their fault that the war is still going, when you consider who benefited most from Rabin's death:

[bemildred]

2. Rabin aide: Hagai Amir should have left prison in casket

"Such a man should have remained in prison until the end of his days," Shimon Sheves, a former aide to Yitzhak Rabin, said Friday in response the release of Hagai Amir, the brother of the late prime minister's assassin.

"The only way he should have been let out of prison is in a casket," said Sheves, who served as director general of the Prime Minister's Office during the Rabin government.

Hagai Amir (44) was released earlier in the day after serving 16.5 years in prison for conspiring with his brother Yigal Amir to kill Rabin.

Upon leaving the Ayalon Prison gates, Amir made a 'V' sign with his hand, and told reporters: "I am proud of what I did. I have no regrets."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4224766,00.html

[oberliner]

3. West Bank settlement protests the planned arrival of Rabin assassination co-conspirator

Excerpt:

However, residents of the West Bank settlement have been protesting Amir's planned arrival, hanging signs reading, among others, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Murder – that isn't our way."

One man, expressing opposition to the weekend visit, said the residents "renounce this visit utterly and of course utterly renounce anything that has to do with the Rabin assassination."

"This is a completely private visit that people are frowning upon. We can't prevent it, but we're certainly not happy," the Shavei Shomron resident said, adding: "that man isn't wanted in the settlement and he would do better to not arrive."

The man said: "There are other places in the country with good air and great views. He shouldn’t come to stain the Shomron's residents. It's a disgrace. Even if it is a private visit, we hope Hagai amir never arrives."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/west-bank-settlement-protests-the-planned-arrival-of-rabin-assassination-co-conspirator-1.428226

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Disgusting.

The fact that there are significant numbers of Israelis who see these guys as heroes.

The cushy terms of his brother's imprisonment is a disgrace as well. How would they have treated a Palestinian who assassinated an Israeli prime minister?

[oberliner]

7. Not true

Certainly not anywhere near the kinds of numbers that see Samir Kuntar as a hero, for example.

[LeftishBrit]

6. That really doesn't sound like a good idea, either for justice or for public safety

Maybe it's a legal requirement, but argh just argh.

[oberliner]

8. You think he should've gotten life imprisonment?

Or is that not what you are saying?

[LeftishBrit]

9. I think he should have got an indeterminate sentence (like life imprisonment in the UK)

In the UK, life doesn't usually mean literally 'for life', but you have to serve a certain 'tariff', e.g. the 16 years that he has served. If you are seen as still a potential danger to society, you can continue to be kept in prison. I think he should be, as he has shown no remorse, and had also threatened Sharon.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Just out of curiosity

how do you think a British citizen would be treated if they had been part of a successful plot to assassinate a sitting prime minister? How do you think Britain would treat someone like Yigal Amir, who actually pulled the trigger? I can't imagine a British assassin getting to enjoy the cushy terms of imprisonment that Amir has enjoyed, but I don't know.

[azurnoir]

10. Interesting comparisons of Israeli justice

Israeli Jews kill a propeace PM and you released in one case and married with conjugal visits and a new child visits in the other(Yigal)

but if your a Palestinian Arab who killed Jews

Ynet 10:35

The Shin Bet has recently presented the Defense Minister Ehud Barak with a recommendation to approve the demolition of the homes of Amjad and Hakim Awad who murdered the Fogel family from Itamar over a year ago.

According to the recommendation the houses in the village of Awarta should be destroyed as part of the deterrence mechanism against Palestinian families who give refuge to members of the family involved in terrorism.

The trial of the two terrorists recently ended at the military court with multiple life sentences handed down for both culprits. Yet during the investigation the Shin Bet discovered that the relatives of Hakim and Amjad hid evidence and aided the two murderers in covering up their tracks.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4225140,00.html

Ma'an updated 18:50

The heads of Israel's military on Sunday decided to demolish the homes of two Palestinians convicted of murdering an Israeli family last year, Israeli media said.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and army chief Benny Gantz agreed to destroy the West Bank homes of Hakim and Ajmad Awad, Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reported.

The teenagers were sentenced to multiple life sentences for the killing of five relatives in an Israeli settlement in March 2011.

The move -- recommended by Israel's internal security service the Shin Bet -- will be subject to legal scrutiny in coming weeks by the Israeli parliamentary legal advisers, the report said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=482839