Raed Salah enters Al-Aqsa for first time in 15 years

Salah, the leader of the northern branch of Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained in August 2017 and indicted for alleged incitement over his criticism of the erection of metal detectors at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

The head of the Palestinian Islamic Movement in Israek, Raed Salah, yesterday prayed in Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first time in 15 years, after an Israeli ban stopping him from accessing the site expired.

His lawyer, Khaled Zabarka, told the media that Israeli police allowed Salah to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque after he was stopped “for minutes” in front of Bab Al-Asbat (Tribes Gate).

“Sheikh Raed Salah is now in Al-Aqsa Mosque and he was not arrested, as is common practice. The police tried to block his entry, but he eventually entered Al-Aqsa,” Zabarka said.

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.

In August 2020, Salah was re-sentenced to a 17-month jail term on “incitement” charges. He was released on 13 December 2021.

READ: Palestinian icon Raed Salah released from Israeli prison

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.