Israeli convicted in Thailand to transfer to Israel

The process took more than a year, and the coronavirus outbreak may have contributed to the outcome, but Nati Hadad will be coming home from Thailand to complete his sentence in an Israeli jail.

He was arrested and imprisoned in Thailand in July 2017 for operating an illegal medical clinic and sentenced in 2018 to four years imprisonment.

Hadad appealed to President Reuven Rivlin just over a year ago to be allowed to leave Thailand and serve the rest of his sentence in Israel.

Rivlin consulted with Ayelet Shaked, who was justice minister at the time, and they agreed to accede to Hadad’s request pending approval by Thai authorities.

There are precedents for such a move.

Notorious drug trafficker Zeev Rosenstein was sentenced to 12 years in absentia in the United States. After a special agreement between the US and Israeli governments, he was extradited to the US, and in a plea-bargain agreement that included a three-year extension of his sentence, he was repatriated to Israel to serve out his time.

Another Israeli crime boss, Yitzhak Abergil, who was sentenced in the US for murder and lesser crimes, was likewise sentenced in absentia, extradited and repatriated after three years to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Israel.

Rivlin appealed to Thai King Vajiralongkorn to permit Hadad to leave the country and complete his sentence in Israel.

On Tuesday, permission was granted. Rivlin immediately thanked the king for his humane attitude.

Other Israelis are imprisoned in Thailand on charges of murder and drug offenses.

This week, Rivlin received an appeal from the family of an Israeli prisoner in Bogota, Colombia, to be moved temporarily to the home of a relative in Colombia because the unsanitary conditions of the prison are dangerous to his health.