Yigal Amir, convicted assassin of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, has appealed to be allowed to pray with a minyan (quorum of 10 men) after 15 years in solitary confinement. The appeal will be heard by the Petach Tikva District Court. The conditions he has been held in are “unprecedented,” the prisoner said. "Due to the fact that I'm the first prisoner to spend so long in solitary confinement," Amir told the court, "the fact that the conditions of my confinement are so much harsher than those of other prisoners in solitary confinement, and that they are made worse on occasion in the wake of media or political pressure, is highly significant." He asked that if he is not allowed to regularly pray with a minyan, he at least be allowed to pray in the prison synagogue during the High Holidays. Failure to allow him to do so would be a violation of his right to freedom of worship, he argued. In related news, the State is planning to ask for yet another six-month extension to Amir's stay in solitary confinement. Amir has been isolated from other prisoners since his arrest. He was, however, allowed conjugal visits after marrying his wife, Larissa Trimbobler, in a secret ceremony carried out with help from an intermediary. The couple had a child in 2007; the boy was circumcised in prison in order to allow his father to attend the event.
