Amiram Ben-Uliel will participate in the Passover Seder with other prisoners in the wing dedicated to Orthodox Jewish prisoners (the “Torani” wing) in Ayalon Prison. Honenu issued a statement welcoming the announcement: “We are pleased with the decision to ease, however slightly, the unreasonable conditions under which Amiram is incarcerated. The decision follows determined efforts by many concerned citizens who tirelessly worked on the “Justice for Amiram!” campaign. Complete justice will come only after Amiram is released to his home, G-d willing, soon.”
Among the efforts by concerned citizens was a campaign petitioning the Prison Service to allow Amiram Ben-Uliel out of solitary confinement in his cell to celebrate Passover with the rest of the prisoners. Dozens of rabbis signed the petition. Activists from “Justice for Amiram!” launched a campaign to hold a Passover Seder outside of Eshel Prison in Be’er Sheva where he has been incarcerated under near solitary conditions for more than seven years.
Based solely on his confessions extracted by the Shabak after interrogations under extreme duress, a euphemism for torture, Amiram Ben-Uliel was sentenced to three life sentences plus 17 years’ imprisonment following his conviction in the Kfar Duma arson case in which three members of the Dawabshe family were killed. Besides the use of torture, there were conflicting witness reports that contradict Ben-Uliel’s confession.
Ben-Uliel is imprisoned in a high-security wing, in isolation, without any contact with other prisoners. He is allowed to leave his cell for only two hours a day, alone, to an empty, closed-in prison yard. Unlike other prisoners, he is prohibited from phoning either his family or his attorneys. His family is allowed to visit him once every two weeks for approximately half an hour, separated by a glass partition. Additionally, he is not allowed to go to the prison synagogue to pray with a minyan, and he is allowed to keep only five holy books in his cell.
