An 82-year-old man who has been in prison for 32 years for refusing to give his wife a get, or a religious bill of divorce, may soon be released on grounds of ill health.
Yihye Avraham, who has been in prison longer than any other Israeli, was given an open-ended sentence by a rabbinical court in 1962.
Jewish law stipulates that both husband and wife must agree to a divorce, although only a man can actually give the get. Israeli law allows imprisonment as a method of last resort to put pressure on a stubborn spouse.
Avraham has stubbornly refused to grant the divorce, explaining that he loved, and still loves, his wife, Ora.
Prison sources, who describe him as mentally disturbed, say he is also in ill physical health.
Avraham suffered a stroke Saturday night and was taken to a nearby hospital.
A legal adviser to the Israeli Prison Service is expected to decide this week whether Avraham should be released.
Avraham’s 66-year-old wife, Ora, first applied for a divorce after 12 years of marriage.
“His behavior was abhorrent. He treated me like chattel,” she said in an interview published last year.
The couple was married in their native country of Yemen when Ora was 12 and Yihye was 28. She bore him two daughters, but he reportedly berated her and abused her for not bearing sons.
When Ora left her husband at age 24, the couple was already living in Israel.
Israel follows religious law in matters of marriage and divorce and Yihye and duly ordered to remain behind bars until he granted his wife the get.
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