Sperm donation ban on Rabin's assassin

Israel’s Supreme Court has issued a temporary injunction barring the jailed assassin of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin from donating sperm to impregnate his wife, pending a final court ruling.

Yigal Amir, serving a life sentence without parole for the 1995 assassination, married Larissa Trimbobler by proxy in 2004.

The prison has not allowed them conjugal visits, but following an appeal by Amir to a Tel Aviv court in January the authorities said they could have a child by artificial insemination.

Opponents say there is no legal precedent for a prisoner fathering a child under such circumstances and permission would need fresh legislation.

In an attempt to circumvent the legal barriers, Amir tried in March to sneak his wife a plastic bag of his sperm during a visit, but the couple were caught in the act by prison guards.