Leader of Islamic Movement set to begin jail sentence for incitement of racism, violence
Salah was convicted for a sermon he had delivered in 2007, in which he was accused of inciting racism and violence.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: MAY 8, 2016 12:21Leader of the northern Islamic Movement Sheikh Raed Salah gestures after leaving the district court in Jerusalem October 27, 2015.(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)
Leader of the extremist Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, begins a nine-month jail sentence on Sunday, following his conviction last March on charges of incitement, Israeli media reported.The High Court of Justice rejected his appeal against the conviction, however ruled that his sentence would be shortened from eleven months to nine.Salah was convicted for a sermon he had delivered in 2007, in which he was accused of inciting racism and violence.High Court Justice Salim Joubran said that he believed Salah's conviction for incitement to racism should remain, but he should be acquitted of charges of incitement to violence. He also suggested his sentence be reduced to six months community service.The two other court justices decided that all of his original convictions should remain, however agreed to have his prison term shortened.Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Salah's jailing ahead of Passover with concern that in Jerusalem the holiday could trigger violence around the Temple Mount as Jews flocked to the Western Wall for prayer.“We are seeing efforts by Raed Salah to heat up the Temple Mount area before Passover,” Netanyahu said in April. “This man is a one-man explosive.”Calling for the security forces and the judiciary to “distance him,” Netanyahu said Salah should long ago have been put behind bars.Israel outlawed Salah’s group in November, with a government statement explaining that the group has for years “been waging a campaign of deceitful incitement under the banner of ‘al-Aksa is in danger,’ which blames Israel by falsely accusing it of intending to harm the Aksa Mosque and to violate the status quo there.”Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group, a trans-national NGO, issued a report saying that the Temple Mount is “ironically, quieter than in years,” and that this is the product of “quiet understandings in 2014 and 2015” reached between Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.