Sheikh Raed Salah sentenced to 8 months in jail

Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for inciting violence in a 2007 speech.

An Israeli Magistrate Court in Jerusalem sentenced Salah on Tuesday following his conviction in November 2013 for a sermon he gave at Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighbourhood. During his trial he was found guilty of inciting “all Muslims and Arabs” to “start an intifada (uprising) to support holy Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque.”

Salah was also given an additional eight months’ suspended sentence, which means he faces a similar sentence if he repeats the offence within three years.

The Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Endowment said on its website that Salah’s lawyers will appeal the judgment.

It is also reported that the Israeli prosecution intends to make an appeal against the judgment.

The court condemned Salah on charges of “inciting violence”, in the case which is known as the “Sermon of Wadi El-Joz” during the events of Friday, February 16, 2007, which took place against the backdrop of the crime of the Israeli occupation; the demolition of a part of Al-Aqsa mosque through the Mughrabi Gate on February 6, 2007.