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Israeli court sentences Islamic cleric to prison for inciting violence, racism

Head of the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Raed Sala was sentenced to 28 months in prison for inciting terrorism.

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, seen with supporters after a court hearing in Haifa on Feb. 10, 2020. Photo by Flash90.
Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, seen with supporters after a court hearing in Haifa on Feb. 10, 2020. Photo by Flash90.

An Israeli court sentenced radical Islamic cleric Raed Salah to 28 months in jail for “inciting to terror” in speeches he made after a 2017 attack at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in which two Israeli policemen were killed, according to an AP report.

Salah, the head of the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, was convicted in November of inciting others to follow the example of the Arab-Israeli  gunmen that perpetrated that attack.

He denied the charges.

After the sentence was announced, Salah declared that the proceedings in the case to be “far from the truth,” according to the report.

He served a nine-month jail sentence in Israel in 2017 for “incitement to violence” and “incitement to racism.”

The northern branch of the Islamic Movement has widespread support across the Israeli Arab sector and ran a social-welfare network before being outlawed in November 2015, which has restricted its activity and moved the organization underground.

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