Sarkozy asks Israel to free terrorist

JERUSALEM, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked Israel to release a convicted terrorist who plotted to assassinate Jewish spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Sarkozy sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week requesting the release of Salah Hamori, a 24-year-old Arab resident of Jerusalem. Hamori is a french citizen and the holder of an Israeli identity card, Channel Two television said.

Netanyahu's office confirmed the letter had been received and said the matter was being reviewed by the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Haaretz newspaper said.

Channel Two said Sarkozy's intervention was the result of intensive campaigning by Hamori's mother in Paris, who has called for her son's release ever since his arrest in Israel four years ago.

She has received support from a number of pro-Palestinian groups in France, and recently met with Sarkozy's aide to discuss the issue, the report said.

Hamori's supporters attempted to equate his status with that of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who holds dual Israeli and French citizenship, the television report said.

The Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper said Thursday Hamori lodged an appeal with the Israeli military court concerning his sentence, but failed to mention details of the prison term handed down by the court.

Hamori was one of three Arab residents of Jerusalem arrested by Israel's Security Agency in 2005 for his involvement in the assassination plot. Details released at the time of their arrests, said the three were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and had received funds and instructions from senior PFLP members in Jerusalem and were in contact with cell members involved in the assassination of former Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeévi. The three admitted guilt to the charges against them.