Israel extends solitary confinement of Sheikh Raed Salah

Israeli occupation authorities yesterday extended the solitary confinement of Sheikh Raed Salah to the end of his prison sentence, Arab48 reported.

Last Sunday, the Israeli Prison Services sent a request to the Israeli District Court in Beer Sheva, asking for the extension of Salah’s solitary confinement, his lawyer Khaled Zabarka said.

The High Follow-Up Committee (HFC) for Arabs in Israel has called on the prison authority to stop “abusing Sheikh Salah.”

“Salah’s isolation is a political revenge, which was not stipulated in the ruling against him,” the HFC statement read. “Salah has been in solitary confinement since December,” it added.

The HFC warned that his isolation could have “negative consequences on his health,” adding that it held the Israeli authorities responsible for his “deteriorating health condition.”

Last month, the Freedoms Committee at the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said it was planning on taking “a series of steps against the activities practiced by the Israel Prison Service against Salah,” calling for “removing Salah from the solitary confinement” and to “end the policy of restricting him.”

Salah was detained by Israeli forces in August 2017 and indicted for incitement following his criticism of the erection of metal detectors at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

He was sentenced to 28 months in prison by an Israeli court. He served 11 months, half of which was spent in solitary confinement, before he was moved to house arrest.

After two years under house arrest, in August 2020 Salah began a 17-month jail term on incitement charges.

READ: Palestinians perform Friday prayer in front of Israel prison in solidarity with Sheikh Raed Salah