Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected the latest in a series of appeals by Robert Manning, thereby clearing the way for his extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on charges connected to a 1980 mail-bombing murder in California.
The court rejected Manning’s argument that as a prisoner in the United States he would be unable to fulfill his religious commitments properly as an observant Jew.
Manning should be extradited to the United States within two months, the court ruled.
Manning and his wife, Rochelle, who are American immigrants, are both wanted in the United States in connection with the murder of secretary Patricia Wilkinson by a parcel-bomb addressed to her employer.
The couple’s fingerprints allegedly were found on the wrapping paper of the parcel.
The couple have since moved to Israel and settled in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba several years ago.
In his latest effort to block his extradition, Robert Manning claimed that American prison authorities were harassing Jewish prisoners, preventing them from carrying out basic mitzvot, such as wearing a skullcap, laying tefillin and eating kosher food only.
But the Israeli government argued in response that the U.S. Justice Department had given assurances that Manning would be permitted to carry out all his religious obligations. Manning could also appeal his prison conditions within the U.S. court system, the Justice Department said.
But Manning rejected these assurances; saying they were “lacking, misleading and irrational.”
A ruling on another appeal, by Rochelle Manning against her extradition, is expected to be handed down shortly.
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