Last update - 00:00 04/07/2007
Israel repatriates 4 Jordanians serving life sentences for killing IDF soldiers
By Yuval Yoaz and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents and The Associated Press
Israel on Thursday repatriated four Jordanian prisoners who were jailed for life for killing two Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Jordanian security officials confirmed the men had arrived home to serve out their sentences.
The prisoners, who will serve out their rest of their terms in Jordanian jails, were transfered after the High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal against the move.
An Israeli official said Israel has received an assurance from Jordan that the four would serve at least 18 more months in prison in Jordan.
Three of the men infiltrated Israel from Jordan with weapons in November 1990, and killed IDF Captain Yehuda Lifshitz during a gunbattle.
The fourth prisoner killed Sergeant Pinchas Levy in a separate incident. The attacks took place before Israel signed a peace accord with Jordan in 1994.
The prisoners crossed the Sheik Hussein Bridge in northwestern Jordan and were taken into police custody, a Jordanian official said.
The four were named as cousins Khaled Abu-Ghalyoun and Yousef Abu-Ghalyoun, Abdul-Karim al-Sanee' and Sultan Ajlouni.
They entered an arrival lounge at the bridge escorted by masked members of an elite Jordanian police force, who handed them over to plainclothed security officials, believed to be members of Jordan's intelligence.
The men were handcuffed, but the feet shackles they had on the Israeli side of the border had been removed.
A tumultuous crowd of some 300 relatives, shouting the Muslim battle cry of "Allahu akbar" (God is great), pushed and shoved policemen in a bid to reach the prisoners. But policemen pushed them back and whisked the prisoners to a side room. No injuries were reported.
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Justices Miriam Naor and Elyakim Rubinstein ruled Wednesday that the issue touched on the state's external relations, and was therefore for the consideration of the government, and not the court.
The justices said this was a clearly political subject, and stressed that the High Court has strictly refrained from interfering in decisions relating to political agreements.
Referring to the possibility that the men would be freed when in Jordan, Beinisch said, "I assume the government exerted itself in the agreement arranged with the Jordanian kingdom to ensure the prisoners involved will not be granted pardons, but the details give an impression the commitments the prime minister received on this subject will only last for a limited period."
The prosecution said, "There is great political significance to ending the process with the Jordanian kingdom in light of the fact the government is soon expected to discuss - as the prime minister emphasized at the summit in Sharm el-Sheik - the release of Palestinian prisoners," and requested the High Court rule on this issue as soon as possible.