Ariel Sharon turned 80.
Relatives of the stricken former prime minister held a small ceremony Tuesday by his bedside at Tel Hashomer hospital. Sharon suffered a stroke more than two years and went into a coma that is likely irreversible.
The meeting was said to have been especially gloomy for the family as one of Sharon’s two sons, Omri, on Wednesday will begin a seven-month prison sentence for violating election-funding laws.
A former lawmaker, Omri Sharon was convicted of illicitly bankrolling his father’s successful run to become head of the Likud Party.
