Head of Islamic Movement denied bail by Israeli court
Detention extended for Raed Salah over inciting violence, membership of illegal group charges
FILE PHOTO - RISHON LEZION, ISRAEL - AUGUST 15: Leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah (2nd L) appears in court after he was taken under custody on the grounds that he allegedly provoked and supported an illegal association, in Rishon Lezion, Israel on August 15, 2017. ( Stringer - Anadolu Agency )
Palestinian Territory
JERUSALEM
The leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Raed Salah, was kept in custody at a court hearing on Wednesday, his lawyer said.
Salah faces trial on charges of membership of an illegal organization and inciting violence over a speech he gave last month at the funerals of three Israeli Arabs who killed two police officers at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
“The Israeli magistrate court in the northern city of Haifa has decided to extend the detention of Sheikh Raed Salah until the end of his trail,” Khaled Zbarqa told Anadolu Agency.
“This means that Sheikh Salah will be kept in detention for several months.”
He said an appeal against the court's decision would be lodged.
“It is an unprecedented decision,” Zbarqa said. “It proves that Sheikh Raed is a prisoner of conscience, tried because of his religious views.”
Salah was arrested on Aug. 14 at his home in the northern city of Umm al-Fahm.
Salah, a long-standing figurehead of Palestinian resistance, heads the Israeli branch of the Islamic Movement, which was outlawed in 2015.
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