News / Palestine

Israel arrests leader of Islamic Movement’s northern branch

Tuesday, 15 August 2017 2:04 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 15 August 2017 2:24 PM ]

Sheikh Raed Salah (C), leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, smiles as he arrives at the Israeli Rishon Lezion magistrate court, near Tel Aviv, on August 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli military forces have arrested the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel for allegedly inciting violence and involvement in an outlawed organization.

Israeli police spokeswoman, Luba al-Samri, said a large police force arrived in the Mahajina neighborhood of Umm al-Fahm city, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Jenin, and arrested Sheikh Raed Salah.

Samri added that Salah is accused of “inciting violence and terrorism, as well as affiliation with and support of an illegal and banned union.”

“According to available information, the suspect delivered inciting speeches before crowds and a number of his quotes were disseminated on different media outlets,” she said, noting that the Lahav 433, a special investigation unit of the Israeli police, was interrogating him.

Samri went on to say that Salah had been referred to a magistrate court in Rishon Lezion in central Israel to extend his remand for further investigations.

Salah was released in January of this year after 9 months of detention.

On May 8, 2016, the head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel began a nine-month prison term handed down to him on charges of promoting anti-Israel hatred at Ohalei Kedar Prison, located north of the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) Ahmed Tibi (L) and Sheikh Raed Salah (C), the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, attend a demonstration to mark the Land Day on March 30, 2017 in the northern village of Deir Hanna in the northern Galilee region. (Photo by AFP)

Israel’s so-called High Court of Justice had reduced the influential Palestinian cleric’s original 11-month sentence to nine months on April 18.

The case was brought against Salah after he delivered a sermon in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood near occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds in 2007, in which he condemned “Israeli racist policies in al-Quds.”

Salah, during that sermon, demanded that Israel stop its restrictions on Muslims to worship freely at al-Aqsa Mosque compound. He also called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Israeli police subsequently banned him from praying at al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In November 2015, Israeli authorities shuttered the offices of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, accusing it of being behind the recent wave of tensions in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The occupied territories have witnessed a fresh bout of tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk