AN UNREPENTANT Yigal Amir stood in the dock of the Tel Aviv magistrates' court yesterday and listened with little emotion as Judge Edmund Levy sentenced him to life for the assassination of the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
Standing with one hand resting on his hip as he made his final statement, Amir (25) told the court: "Everything I did, I did for Israel, for the Torah of Israel, for the people of Israel and for the Land of Israel."
Reading the verdict handed down by a three judge panel in a low monotone, Judge Levy said Amir's actions had been carefully planned and that he had acted with "incredible calmness".
Rejecting the defence's arguments that, Amir had only planned to maim Rabin and not kill him, Judge Levy recalled Amir's statement in custody that he did "not regret his actions".
The judge also rejected the argument that Amir was mentally disturbed and so was not fully responsible for his actions. The psychiatric evaluation ordered by the court, Judge Levy said, showed that while Amir had "narcissistic tendencies" and tended "to see things in black and white," he was not suffering from any mental disturbance. The judge did not address the defence's conspiracy claim that there had been a second gunman.
In Israel, where the only death sentence is for Nazi war criminals, a life sentence carries a 25 year mandatory jail term. Amir was also sentenced to six years for injuring Rabin's bodyguard, Mr Yoram Rubin, who was wounded in the shoulder. The two sentences will run consecutively.
Reading the judgment before a packed courthouse, Judge Levy said that Amir believed killing Mr Rabin was "the last way to stop the peace process". Amir, says his acts are justified on religious grounds.
Judge Levy, who quoted from Jewish religious sources in handing down the sentence, said Amir had "cynically and crudely exploited Jewish law for aims that are completely foreign to it".
Wearing a grey shirt and a black skullcap, Amir sat calmly between two policemen, yawning occasionally. There was little to be seen of his broad grin which has so enraged Israelis throughout the trial.
Despite pleas from his father to express remorse, Amir used the five minutes allotted him to tell the court that he had been "forced" to do what he did "because the damage that was likely to be caused to the Israeli nation would be irreversible".
Outside the courthouse a group of young protesters carried placards. "God has wiped the smile off his [Yigal Amir's] face," read one.
Asked whether she was satisfied with the sentence, Mr Rabin's widow, Leah, said only that "for me it's as if he [Yigal Amir] does not exist".