News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann issued a statement Wednesday in which he accepted the conclusions of a report handed to him Tuesday by retired High Court Judge Miriam Ben-Porat, who found that the man jailed for the 1993 rape and murder of a young woman was indeed the murderer.

Henit Kikos, a resident of Ofakim in the Negev, disappeared on June 10, 1993, and her body was found some time later. El-Abid, a resident of the Bedouin town Rahat, was arrested and charged with the crime after confessing to a police agent planted in his cell. The case reached the Supreme Court twice, and there has been an ongoing legal and public dispute about El-Abid's guilt.

Friedmann said he was convinced that El-Abid's guilt had been proven beyond reasonable doubt. However, he determined that there was room for reducing his sentence because of the public perception regarding his innocence. "Justice must be seen, not just carried out," he said.