Haggai Amir, who played a major role in planning the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, will be released on Friday, having served out his 16-year sentence. Amir was convicted of helping his brother Yigal Amir kill Rabin following a peace rally on Nov. 4, 1995, at Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square, which after the murder was renamed Rabin Square. Haggai Amir was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring to commit a crime and unlawful possession of weapons. While in prison he was sentenced to an additional year after threatening to kill then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to protest the evacuation of settlements as part of the 2005 Disengagement Plan. Yigal Amir said he assassinated Rabin because he wanted to derail the peace process set in motion by the 1993 Oslo Accords. He continues to serve a life term. Haggai Amir, who is in solitary confinement, did not qualify for parole as he refused to express remorse for his actions. In the run-up to his release date, he turned down an offer by authorities to be moved to the regular prison wards. Even once he is out of prison, Israeli law enforcement authorities may decide to impose certain restrictions on his daily activities, as he has been convicted of security-related offenses.
