ByAnonymous, Anonymous
A convicted sex offender who fled Israel before facing jail had his extradition appeal rejected in the High Court today, despite claiming that returning to Israel would leave him at risk from being nuked by Iran .
Orthodox Jew, Nachman Natal Stal, fled Israel in May 2006 after being found guilty in a Tel Aviv-Jaffa court of sodomy and indecent assault of a minor, relating to an incident in his car in Tel Aviv in 1998.
The married father-of-nine had been in hiding in Stamford Hill until he was recaptured by British Police last May while changing a tyre on the A40 in west London .
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith later authorised his extradition but he challenged the decision.
Speaking through an interpreter Mr Stal offered prayers as he pleaded with Lord Justice Stanley Burnton and Mr Justice Wilkie that “as long as Israel is threatened with an atomic bomb one shouldn’t be extradited there”.
He also alleged that the Israeli government’s motivation for taking him back was out of vengeance, because he had refused to “lie” about something he did not do, so instead absconded.
The 39-year-old also said that in the absence of secure units for sex offenders in Israel , he was scared of being tortured by fellow inmates, asking that “the honourable court” should not “cast me to the dogs”.
But Mr Justice Wilkie said that Israeli prisons could segregate at-risk prisoners in the interests of safety.