Brother of Rabin killer freed in Israel

The brother of the Jewish fundamentalist who killed Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was released from prison Friday after serving 16 years for complicity in his murder.

Hagai Amir, 43, is not known to have expressed remorse for his role in the death and upon his release he told Israel Radio, "I am proud of what I did."

Amir helped plan the 1995 killing. His brother Yigal Amir, an ultra-nationalist Jewish extremist, is serving a life sentence for gunning down the prime minister after a Tel Aviv peace rally.

He was also convicted of planning attacks on Palestinians.

Amir was greeted by his mother and was expected to be taken to a relative's house in an illegal Jewish West Bank settlement.

He was originally sentenced to 16 years, but that time was extended by six months after he was convicted of threatening the life of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2006. He spent most of his prison years in isolation.

The Amir brothers opposed Rabin's policy of trading land to the Palestinians for peace.

(Al-Akhbar, AP)