The Supreme Court on Sunday approved a request by former president Moshe Katsav's legal team asking for an additional hearing before an extended panel of justices. Katsav's defense attorneys, Avigdor Feldman, Zion Amir, Mickey Hoba and Avraham Lavie filed the request on Thursday, exactly two weeks after the court rejected Katsav's appeal against his rape conviction and sentence. Katsav is set to begin his seven-year prison sentence on December 7. 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 panel of Supreme Court justices -- Miriam Naor, Edna Arbel and Salim Joubran -- stated unanimously in their ruling that the District Court's verdict was sound and that Katsav would serve the prison term imposed by the lower court.
