Jerusalem – The Israeli authorities released Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Ikrima Sabri on Friday and ordered him to be kept away from the mosque until August 8.
This came hours after Sheikh Sabri (85 years old) was arrested and investigated following an Israeli incitement campaign against him for mourning during the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian factions movement, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday.
Khaled Zabarqa, Sheikh Sabri’s lawyer, told the Anadolu Agency correspondent that the Israeli authorities released the Al-Aqsa preacher and issued an order to ban him from the mosque until August 8, with the possibility of extending the ban for 6 months.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli police arrested Sheikh Sabri from his home in East Jerusalem.
A video clip broadcast by activists on social media showed the moment of the Sheikh’s arrest, as he appeared moving slowly, leaning on a crutch due to his old age.
The Israeli police have arrested Sheikh Sabri several times over the past few years.
But today’s latest arrest came after Israeli officials launched a broad incitement campaign against Sheikh Sabri, after he mourned Haniyeh on behalf of the people of Jerusalem in his Friday sermon.
Sheikh Sabri said in the Friday sermon: “The people of Jerusalem and the environs of Jerusalem and those on the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh with God, and we ask God Almighty to have mercy on him and to grant him a place in His spacious gardens.”
For his part, the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on the Public Prosecution to open an investigation against Sheikh Sabri on “suspicion of incitement,” according to what he claimed in a post on the “X” platform.
Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel also announced in a statement that he had sent a letter to the government’s legal advisor, Gali Behrav-Miara, in which he requested the cancellation of Sheikh Sabri’s residency permit in East Jerusalem.
Israel considers Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to be permanent residents, not citizens, and the Minister of the Interior can, under certain conditions, revoke their residency in the city.
On Friday, the funeral prayer was held for Haniyeh’s body at the Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, Doha, with large official and popular participation. The funeral prayer was also held in absentia in mosques in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Arab and Islamic cities.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Haniyeh was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his residence in Tehran, the day after he participated in the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The assassination of Haniyeh, which Tel Aviv has not claimed responsibility for until now, came while Israel, with American support, has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has left more than 130,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing.
Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Anatolia
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2024-08-03 09:13:01
