MAN CONVICTED OF THREATENING SHARON'S LIFE

Man Convicted of Threatening Sharon's Life

JERUSALEM — An Israeli court on Sunday convicted the brother of the man who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on charges of threatening the life of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Hagai Amir has been serving a 16-year sentence since 1996 for complicity in the killing of Rabin by his brother, Yigal Amir. Hagai Amir told prison officials in 2004 that he could have Sharon killed by making a phone call, according to court documents. "What are you afraid of? That I will murder or assassinate Sharon?" he said, according to the documents. "I can have Sharon killed with a single phone call."

Hard-line nationalists opposed Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, completed in September. According to the documents, Hagai Amir claimed he made the first statement sarcastically, and never made the second threat at all. He accused prison guards of conspiring against him. He is to be sentenced on the latest charge Feb. 13. It was not immediately clear how much additional time he could face. Yigal Amir is serving a life sentence for murdering Rabin after a peace rally in Tel Aviv in 1995. Sharon suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4 and remains comatose in a Jerusalem hospital.