The Jerusalem rabbinical court backed away Tuesday from its halachic ruling that the extradition of William Nakash be delayed for six months or longer out of consideration for his wife.
After a lengthy session Tuesday, the court announced its ban would end on Dec. 1. The Supreme Court has already ordered Nakash’s extradition to France, where he was convicted in absentia for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The French authorities, however, have agreed to a second trial.
The rabbinical court intervened to protect Nakash’s pregnant wife from the status of agunah — an abandoned woman — should her husband have to serve a lengthy sentence abroad. Religious law prohibits an agunah from remarrying.
The rabbinical court said it would continue its efforts to persuade Nakash to grant his wife a provisional divorce which she could invoke at any time.
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