‘Israel’ sentences Former mayor to 28 months in jail for defending Al Aqsa mosque
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- The Israeli Magistrate court in Haifa has sentenced Sheikh Raed Salah to 28 months in jail for defending Al Aqsa mosque.
The sentencing hearing was held this morning, while the Sheikh’s supporters, who included leaders and politicians in addition to Palestinian Knesset members, were prevented from entering the court.
The Israeli prosecution had demanded that Salah be sentenced to four years in jail. It accuses him of “inciting terrorism” and “supporting the Islamic movement” inside the occupied land, which has been recently proscribed.
The court decided to jail Salah for 28 months, 11 months of them were already served.
Israeli police arrested Sheikh Salah from his house in Umm Al Fahm in August 2017. He was accused of “inciting violence and terrorism” due to a speech he made. He was accused of supporting a proscribed organization as well. He has been prosecuted for over two years.
Sheikh Raed Salah was the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in the occupation state before it was proscribed. He was born in 1958 in the town of Umm Al Fahm, which a decade earlier was occupied to create ‘Israel’.
After leaving school he became a founding member of the Islamic Movement in the occupation state, which is a legal organisation. He is led its northern branch until the Israelis declared it a proscribed organization.
In 1989 he stood for Mayor of Umm Al Fahm and won 70% of the votes. He was re-elected in 1993 and 1997 as well.
Sheikh Salah is a poet and a father of eight children.
