The court trying Denis Michael Rohan for setting fire to the Al Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem–Islam’s third holiest shrine–last Aug. 21 recessed yesterday and will reconvene to announce its decision. He faces 44 years in prison. Since there is no jury procedure in Israel, the court will determine factual and judicial findings.
Mr. Rohan’s attorney, Yitzhak Tunik, said in his summation that his client is not guilty under Israeli law for he had acted out of an “irresistible impulse” caused by mental illness.
Mr. Tunik recommended that the 28-year-old former sheepherder, be confined to a mental institution. The lawyer noted that all the medical evidence given at the trial agreed that Rohan suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had committed his crime under compulsion of that illness. He cited judgments handed down by the Israel Supreme Court as precedents for waiving punishment. Mr. Tunik’s contention that Rohan could not be held responsible for his act contradicted a statement last week by the prosecuting attorney, Meir Shamgar, that the defendant despite his illness, knew perfectly well what he was doing when he set fire to the shrine and knew that he was violating Israeli law. Legal observers said that if the court accepts the defense counsel’s argument, it was possible that Rohan would not be confined to a mental hospital here but would be deported to his native Australia.
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