Ami Popper, 42, who is serving a 40-year prison term for the murder of seven Arabs in Rishon L’Tzion in May 1990, has turned to the administrative court seeking to reverse a Prison Authority decision to move him from the Matityahu Prison Torah Wing. In February 1999, his seven life sentence term was reduced to 40 years.

In 1990, Popper put on an IDF uniform and then asked Arabs for identification to be certain he was not firing at Jews.

In his petition to the court, Popper maintains that the decision was made to move him to another prison because during a leave last week, he met with attorney Lior Katsav, a brother of former President Moshe Katsav, who is serving his sentence in the Torah wing along with Popper and others.

Popper has become frum and was married in 1993, and he and his wife had three children. On 17 January 2007, while on a 48-hour furlough, Popper was involved in a car accident he caused by crossing a solid line, hitting oncoming traffic. His wife and one of his sons were killed in the accident. Popper himself was moderately injured. Police reported that Popper’s license had expired in 1999. Police reports say Popper was driving without a license.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)