The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted Adel Heib of charges that he raped an 82-year-old woman in Safed four years ago, in a review hearing of previous Supreme Court decision.

Heib was acquitted in a five-to-two ruling of an expanded panel that was reviewing the decision of a smaller Supreme Court panel to convict. The decision to review the earlier ruling was due to evidentiary concerns regarding the case and the issue of reasonable doubt.

Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, together with justices David Mintz, Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf, and Yechiel Kasher, ruled to acquit Heib, while Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez opposed.

Heib, who had previously been convicted of the rape of a 70-year-old woman and served a 14-year prison sentence for the crime, is set to be released from prison on Tuesday.

Heib was first acquitted of the rape in a unanimous decision of the Nazareth District Court in November........

© The Times of Israel