At the conclusion of a long motorcade beginning in Jerusalem
and ending in front of the Ramle prison, former chairman of
Shas Arye Deri, entered prison to begin serving his three-
year prison term. As of now Deri will be incarcerated in the
shomrei mitzvos branch of the Ma'asiyahu prison, though
there are reports that Deri will ask to transfer elsewhere.
A huge motorcade assembled early Sunday morning in Jerusalem,
resulting in the closure of numerous streets while Deri's
admirers accompanied him to the city exit. Large traffic jams
were formed on Highway One as police directed the hundreds of
vehicles to Ramle.
Shas held a farewell rally for its former chairman opposite
the prison which was generally orderly and peaceful. Among
the speakers were Arye Deri himself, who begged for
forgiveness from a long line of rabbonim and askonim.
At the close of his remarks before entering the prison, he
begged forgiveness from Maran, the Rosh Hayeshiva, HaGaon
HaRav Eliezer Menachem Shach, shlita.
Deri underwent the prison classification routine two hours
later than scheduled, due to the large rally.
A police official in charge of supervising the event
estimated the crowd at 15-20,000.
Prison Services relate that Deri was transferred to the
shomrei mitzvos branch of the Ma'asiyahu prison, where
he will serve his three-year term, a third of which is
customarily deducted for good behavior. Deri reportedly had
asked to serve in the Hermon prison.
The case began some ten years ago after a newspaper report.
The investigation lasted for seven years and cost many
millions. In the end, Deri was convicted of relatively minor
counts of bribery and breaches, but nonetheless he is the
first government minister to be put behind bars.
Support for Deri continues outside of the Ma'asiyahu Prison.
On Sunday night a tent was erected outside of the jail where
religious studies are scheduled to take place. He will have
to serve at least a quarter of his sentence before he can
request furloughs. This means he have to serve for nine
months before he can request leave. Deri will be allowed to
wear civilian clothing. Every week his children and three
adults will be allowed to visit for half an hour.
