Former President Moshe Katsav begins 7-year jail term for rape

        ‏Israel's eighth president president Moshe Katsav reported on Wednesday to Ma'asiyahu prison in Ramle to begin a seven-year sentence for rape and other offenses.‏ He was accompanied to prison by family members and supporters. They were not permitted go inside with him, where prison officials began processing his admittance. Police and border police were deployed outside the prison to prevent any possible disturbances. A Kol Yisrael reporter says that dozens of people left signs of support at the entrance to Katsav's home in Kiryat Malachi. Speaking to reporters before leaving his home for prison, Katsav continued to maintain his innocence. He accused the court of wrongly convicting him. and declared that in Israel, "a man is executed today without proof or evidence." Katsav said that the court chose not to believe real-time witnesses, instead taking the word of witnesses speaking after the fact. "One day, you'll see that you have buried a man alive," Katsav said, adding that proof for his future acquittal already awaits within his appeal documents. ‏Katsav is to be placed in the religious wing of the prison, and will share a cell with ex-government minister Shlomo Benizri of Shas – a move Prisons Service staff say will ease the shock from the sudden change of environment. A warden will be assigned exclusively to the ex-president to ensure he does not attempt suicide. ‏ Katsav, who turned 65 on Monday, will be allowed to wear his own clothes behind bars, though he will have to don Prisons Service uniform during court appearances, should he make future appeals. The religious wing houses 72 prisoners, is free of televisions, and inmates spend most of their time in two seminaries studying Torah. The inmates also routinely meet with social workers as part of a rehabilitation program. The former president was unanimously convicted in the Tel Aviv District Court a year ago of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual harassment, an indecent act using force, and obstruction of justice.The court sentenced him to seven years in prison.‏ Katsav maintained his innocence in a New York Times interview yesterday. "When I was president, I received 10,000 pardon requests," he said. "They all claimed they had been the victims of injustice. I am so sorry that I immediately rejected those claims. Now I believe that some of them were innocent," Katsav told The New York Times in an interview at his home in Kiryat Malachi. "I'm about to pay the price for something I haven't done," Katsav said. "I've hugged and kissed women but not in an inappropriate way. We've become like Saudi Arabia. A hug is a sex offense." (06,30)