Israel indicts Al-Aqsa’s Sheikh Ekrima Sabri on ‘terrorism’ charges

Prosecutors in the Israeli occupation state have filed an indictment against Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Sheikh Ekrima Sabri on charges of “inciting and sympathy with terrorism”. The indictment has been filed at the Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court, explained the sheikh’s lawyer, Khaled Zabarqa.

Sheikh Sabri, 85, has been repeatedly arrested, summoned for investigation and removed from Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings in recent years. He has also been banned from travelling.

“The indictment was filed following a speech by Sheikh Sabri when he offered his condolences to the martyrs of Jenin, as the occupation authorities considered that his speech sympathised with terrorism,” said Zabarqa. “However, the sheikh merely offered his condolences to the families of the martyrs on the death of their sons, using the customary words of sympathy and condolence used by everyone.”

The lawyer insisted that the indictment is “one form of the religious war waged by the Israeli authorities against Islamic religious concepts derived from the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah [example] of the Prophet.” He pointed out that Israel is fighting these religious concepts, which is “unprecedented” in domestic or international criminal law.

“It is implicitly known that religious concepts are not included in criminal law discussions, and that it does not apply to them because they are concepts derived from faith and belief,” added Zabarqa. “The authorities cannot criminalise religious concepts or attempt to criminalise them and present them to the judicial system.” This, he noted, suggests that there is clear lawlessness among the Israeli authorities, which are “behaving hysterically” and trying to strike everywhere without any rationality.

“Sheikh Ekrima Sabri is the voice of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the voice of Jerusalem, and the voice of the local and global Palestinian community, and they [the occupation authorities] want to silence this voice through indictments, thinking that this will actually silence him.”

Sabri is very much an official and prominent Palestinian figure who fulfils his religious, social, intellectual and educational role on the issue of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian society as a whole.

“We believe that this is political persecution driven by extremist Israeli groups, which have become an integral part of the government, and therefore the procedures lack actual legal considerations and instead have been replaced by political considerations,” concluded Zabarqa. “We will take legal action within the court to refute the allegations.”

OPINION: The Altalena Affair: Is Israel heading towards a civil war?