Clinically dead prisoner 'should return to Israel'

Prison reformists are calling for the Parole Board to let a clinically dead Israeli man return home.

Rimutaka Prison inmate Aviv Atias, who has been described by police as a "field marshal" in a worldwide drugs syndicate, was taken to Hutt Hospital on Saturday.

Although associates claim he collapsed as the result of headaches suffered after a beating in the prison a month earlier, it is understood he tried to take his own life.

He has been on life support in the hospital's intensive care unit since.

Atias was sentenced to 8-1/2 years' jail in November, 2003, for his part in one of the biggest ecstasy importations into New Zealand.

Doctors have told Atias' family he is clinically dead and relatives want to take him back to Israel to die. Jewish religious authorities overseas are being consulted by Wellington rabbi Antony Lipman to see if Atias' life support can be turned off.

Hutt Hospital's policy is for life support to remain switched on until any religious or cultural issues are resolved.

His brother Nic, who arrived in Wellington on Tuesday, has been told by the Corrections Department that Atias will be staying until an investigation into the prison incident is completed, something that could take several weeks.

Police do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances.

Howard League for Penal Reform president Peter Williams QC said today there were strong grounds for the Parole Board to grant Atias a release on compassionate grounds.

"From a legal point of view, if it is medically possible and if it is medically practical, in my opinion, he should be placed into the care of his family and allowed to go back to his home in Israel," he told National Radio.

This case was similar to others in which prisoners have been released, he added.

Atias was arrested along with fellow Israeli Ilan Ben-Abu and Englishwoman Jane Birak in Auckland in 2002 for his part in an attempt to import up to $5 million of ecstasy into New Zealand.

Atias had arrived from Israel carrying a suitcase with a false bottom. Though it was empty, it aroused suspicion and he was followed by police as he left Auckland Airport.

The trio were arrested at a Grey Lynn hotel when Birak turned up with more than 53,000 pills. Police described Atias and Ben-Abu as "field marshals" in an international drugs syndicate run by Amsterdam-based Ben Yoav.

- NZPA