Orthodox Jews snatch corpse
2007-01-29 11:03
Jerusalem - Israeli police said on Sunday they had retrieved the corpse of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman snatched by devout Jews who mistakenly feared a post-mortem would be conducted on her, believing it was desecration of the dead.
The case highlighted the ever-growing divide between the
ultra-Orthodox population, which comprises around 15% of Israel's 5.4 million Jews, and their counterparts who favour the secular laws on which the Israeli state is based.
The 40-year-old woman's body was first discovered on
Saturday in an open field in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of
Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld
said.
"Several hundred members of the ultra-Orthodox community
approached policemen at the scene and injured four officers and
snatched the body," he said.
"We did not ask to carry out an autopsy on the woman. They
grabbed the body thinking we wanted to carry one out."
Rosenfeld said there was no sign of violence on the corpse
or any indication of criminality.
After an extensive police search and lengthy negotiations
with rabbis, the ultra-Orthodox community handed the body over
to a hospital on Sunday for an external examination to determine
the cause of death. The body was later buried.
Under Jewish law, or halacha in Hebrew, bodies must be
buried intact to ensure respect for the dead. Medical
examination of bodies can only be conducted if there are
sufficient grounds such as saving or preserving lives.
Police can only carry out autopsies in Israel if there are
signs of violence or if it is considered a criminal case, and
only then with the consent of the family.
- Reuters