Yigal Amir’s conjugal visit authorized
Request by Rabin’s killer to meet wife for fertility reasons authorized after Shin Bet lifts security restrictions
The Israel Prisons Authority said Friday that the Shin Bet recently lifted the security restrictions imposed on former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s killer, citing that he no longer poses a public threat and will therefore be allowed to meet with his wife for fertility reasons.
The permit granted by the Shin Bet for the conjugal visit is due to expire in six month’s time, but the Prisons Authority said Amir and Trimbobler may meet in the coming week.
The Prisons Authority said a surveillance camera follows Amir’s every move 24 hours a day, but it has not yet been decided whether he will be watched during the conjugal visit.
Amir and Trimbobler were given the authorization to begin fertility treatments early this year, after being denied the right to conjugal visits due to security concerns. Prison Authorities then determined that the treatments would be carried out in an orderly fashion but shortly afterwards Amir was caught trying to smuggle semen out to his wife in a bag. Amir was penalized, but the authorization to continue the treatments was not revoked and they continued.
Last Wednesday Amir petitioned to the Tel Aviv District Court, asking judges to allow him a conjugal visit with Trimbobler for fertility reasons. The two have already received authorization to bring children into the world through artificial insemination but Amir claimed that they do not need a medical procedure, which is endangering his wife's health.
“Why are we not allowed even a one-time conjugal visit, which could save all these chemicals?" wrote Amir in his petition, "what security concerns could there possibly be about such a visit compared with the substantial concerns for my wife's health? Not to mention the pain and side-effects involved with these treatments."
Minister of Defense Amir Peretz expressed his dissatisfaction with Shin Bet’s decision to permit Amir a conjugal visit.
“It is unbelievable that restrictions have been eased for the murderer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,” he said.
However, Knesset Member Michael Eitan (Likud) said, “I find it hard to believe that Israel’s security will be jeopardized if the murderer Yigal Amir is allowed a conjugal visit from his wife.
“If Amir is forbidden from meeting his wife (for fertility reasons), it should be done according to a court ruling and not in accordance with the incomprehensible considerations of the Shin Bet head,” he said.
