His name was linked to two cases that shocked the country: Atef Sabihi died in prison

Atef Sabihi, who was convicted in two of the most disturbing murder cases in Israel during the 80s, died today (Thursday) in prison after decades of incarceration. Sabihi served long prison sentences for his part in the murder of the teenager Dani Katz in Haifa in 1983, as well as for the kidnapping and murder of the discharged soldier Dafna Carmon in 1982. His death closes a central chapter in criminal cases that were at the center of public debates, extensive police investigations, and precedent-setting legal battles that lasted for decades.

The Dani Katz murder case began on December 8, 1983, when the 14-year-old teenager left his home in the Denya neighborhood of Haifa to meet a friend, and disappeared. After three days of intensive searches, a shepherd located his body in a cave near Moshav Ya'ad, close to Sakhnin. Pathological findings indicated that Katz was beaten, bound, strangled to death, and sodomized.

The lead in the investigation was discovered near the scene, where a pile of trash was found containing an envelope and a notebook cover with the name of Samir Ghanama, a grocery store worker in the Denya neighborhood. Following the finding, Samir Ghanama, Fathi Ghanama, Ali Ghanayim, Ahmad Kuzli, and Atef Sabihi were arrested. The five confessed in their interrogations to the kidnapping and murder acts and even performed a reconstruction, but later retracted completely and claimed that their confessions were extracted under severe violence, improper pressure, and abuse by the investigators.

The Haifa District Court convicted the five of conspiracy to kidnap for murder, kidnapping, and murder, and their appeals to the Supreme Court were rejected. However, the case took a rare turn in 1999: the then-President of the Supreme Court, Justice Aharon Barak, ordered a retrial, arguing that the accumulation of new facts and evidence created a real concern of a miscarriage of justice.

Despite the reopening of the proceedings at the Tel Aviv District Court, in 2002 the defendants were convicted again of the offenses attributed to them. Their appeal to the Supreme Court was finally rejected in 2005, after the court examined their claims of improper investigation methods against the fabric of evidence, confessions, and reconstructions.

In parallel, Sabihi's name was linked to a previous murder case that remained unanswered. Dafna Carmon disappeared on June 11, 1982, on her way home to Haifa, and after an investigation that reached a dead end, her remains were found near the road leading to Damon Prison. The breakthrough was achieved during the investigation of the Dani Katz murder, when Ahmad Kuzli provided information about Carmon's fate.

Following this, Sabihi and the brothers Kamal and Muhammad Sabihi were arrested. The four were convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering Carmon after they confessed and reconstructed the acts separately — even though they provided different versions of the method of killing and the role of each. Later, they also claimed that they confessed as a result of investigator violence, but their conviction remained in place.

Both cases were etched into the Israeli memory not only because of their extreme cruelty, but also because of the legal and public doubts raised around the investigation methods in those years. Sabihi and Kuzli were the connecting link between the two cases, as the investigation of the Katz murder was what led to the solving of the Carmon case.

Throughout the years, the convicted continued to strongly claim their innocence. The Public Defender's Office joined the legal battle in the Carmon case, located investigation materials that were not transferred to the defense, and pointed out evidentiary flaws. However, in 2011, the Supreme Court rejected another request for a retrial filed by Kamal and Muhammad Sabihi, and determined that the infrastructure presented was not sufficient to justify reopening the case. The death of Atef Sabihi within the prison walls brings to an end a long period of a prisoner who stood at the heart of one of the most complex and charged legal debates in the history of criminal law in Israel.