Seven years. Exactly seven years have passed since Amiram was arrested. He was arrested on the Hebrew date, 19 Kislev, the holiday commemorating the release from prison of the Alter Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman. I feel that the symbolism that Amiram was arrested on this particular date contains a deep message for us of hope and miracles. Because we are believers and we know that nothing here is for nothing. Everything is wonderfully detailed and precise.
Just like the Alter Rebbe who was thrown into prison even though he did no wrong. He said psalms, and inexplicably (to us) when he reached the verse, "He redeemed my soul with peace," the door was opened for him and he was set free, and that day became a day of celebration and joy.
This is how I feel, that the door will open for us too and Amiram will be freed. There is the Holy One, blessed be He, and there are miracles He has done, is doing, and will do. And when Amiram is released and returns home to us, it will be the happiest day. We have hope, we have faith. Faith in God alone and not in this horrible system that sent a person who did no wrong to prison, but to satisfy political and state interests, and to sweep its horrible crimes under the carpet.
A system that tortures a person in a cruel and inhumane way and then claims it did no wrong. A system that issues confidential reports that protect the investigators in the Jewish department of the Shin Bet and covers them up. A system that gave Amiram a Dreyfus trial - a sham trial meant only to find someone guilty.
Instead of standing guard and conducting a fair trial, the judges are afraid to reveal what is being done in our country in the basements of the Shin Bet. When the judges realized that they had a problem confirming a confession given under torture, they found a simple way to deal with it: to decide that the torture did not influence Amiram’s confession, that he confessed of his own free, even though for the previous 17 days, he consistently claimed his innocence and remained silent during his investigations. Seventeen days in which his will was apparently not free. Only after brutal physical and mental torture, cut off from the world, his interrogators telling him that they are his "angles of destruction" and proving it to him, only then did his will give way.
The confession that was forcefully extracted from Amiram contradicts all the findings at the scene: eyewitnesses in Duma, shoe prints, graffiti inscriptions, an alibi that he was at home, and more. Despite all the contradictions, the judges ruled that there is no doubt that Amiram committed the arson.
It is amazing how the justice system is trying to deceive the public, saying that justice has been done while at the same time it is committing the worst possible injustice. Those murdered in Duma deserve to have the incident seriously investigated and the real perpetrators brought to justice.
But the truth is known by our people -- that it is libel and that Amiram is innocent!
If within the walls of the court there are no standards of morality and truth, justice must be brought out in public. We will continue to call out, without despair, and with God’s help, we will see Amiram at home. That day will be a holiday for all of Israel.
Orian Ben Uliel is the wife of Amiram ben Uliel, who was convicted in the arson incident in Kfar Duma in which a toddler and his parents were killed.