Amram Blau, Neturei Karta leader, his son, Uri and two other members of the ultra-Orthodox sect were sentenced today to four months’ imprisonment on charges of having disturbed the peace in a violent demonstration in February against a swimming pool in which mixed bathing will be permitted.
A fifth defendant was sentenced to three months in jail and a sixth to 28 days, in magistrate courts, with additional terms of three weeks for those zealots who had been previously convicted and given suspended sentences.
Eleven others received fines ranging from 15 to 150 pounds and ordered to sign 250-pound bonds to guarantee good behavior or receive sentences of two weeks to two months. Three flatly refused to sign such bonds and the other eight, while insisting they too refused to recognize the Government of Israel or any of its courts, entered bond to avoid being in jail during Passover.
Another trial, involving 20 others who demonstrated later against the projected pool, will be heard after the holiday. They included three yeshiva students from abroad who have been free on bail.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.