Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Rabbi Eliezer BerlandFlash 90

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who is wanted in Israel on suspicions of sexual assault, was finally arrested in South Africa where he has been hiding out on Thursday.

Israel is expected to request his extradition.

Attorney Sharon Nahari, Berland's representative who led to his release when he was previously arrested in Amsterdam around two years ago, said, "we will fight for his innocence again now," reports Walla.

According to sources close to Berland, he has been feeling unwell recently and was hospitalized in Johannesburg.

The 78-year-old head of the Shuvu Banim sect has been on the run around the world and escaped several arrest attempts.

Berland fled from Israel in 2012 after several women as well as a 15-year-old girl laid charges of sexual harassment against him.

He evaded capture in the United States, Switzerland, Morocco and Zimbabwe and managed to avoid extradition from Holland. 

This January followers of Berland issued a death threat in his name and on his website directed at the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Rabbi Warren Goldstein.

The threat came after South African police raided a hotel where Berland had been staying with his disciplines; apparently Berland's followers held Rabbi Goldstein to blame for the attempt to arrest him.