Ami Popper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On Sunday, 20 May 1990, Ami Popper, a 21-year-old former dishonorably-discharged soldier, put on his army uniform and asked men waiting at a bus stop in the southern Israeli town of Rishon Lezion for their identity cards. After confirming they were Arabs he lined them up and opened fire, killing seven. Within an hour, he was arrested by Israeli police.
After his crime, Arab riots led to the deaths of seven more Palestinians, and 700 injured.
Israel Radio reported that Popper claimed to have been distraught because his girlfriend had decided to leave him. Later he claimed to have been raped by an Arab when he was 13.
Popper was charged and convicted of seven acts of murder in March 1991. In prison he became religious and in June 1993 he was married with a Canadian woman from a family of Kach activists. The couple has three children.
In February, 1999 Popper's sentence was commuted from seven life terms to 40 years. Currently he is expected be released on parole in 2023, after 33 years in prison.
[edit] External links
- Israelis who killed Palestinians have sentences reduced February 3, 1999, BBC
- Middle East Israeli killers' sentences reduced February 4, 1999, BBC
