Israel Bans Al Aqsa Imam, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri For Six Months

Israel extended its ban on Imam Ikrima Sabri, the Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The ban restricts his access to the mosque and its courtyards for six more months, his lawyers told Al Jazeera. The Imam was detained on August 2, on the suspicion of inciting “terrorism”, after he mourned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas chief.

He called Haniyeh a “martyr” at the mosque in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, said his lawyer Hamza Qatina. He was detained from his home in Jerusalem.

After releasing him from arrest, the Imam’s lawyer Khaled Zabarka told Anadolu that the Israeli authorities released Sheikh Ekrima and ordered his deportation from the mosque until August 8, with a possibility to extend his deportation for six months. One of Sabri’s relatives said that Israeli police stormed into his house in occupied East Jerusalem and arrested him, reported Anadolu.

Also Read: Sheikh Ikrima Sabri Who Was ‘Abducted’ From Jerusalem

Times of Israel reported that footage on social media showed audience members chanting “Allah is great” and “with blood we shall redeem the martyr” during the Imam’s sermon before Friday prayer.

Sheikh Ikrima lives in East Jerusalem. Most of the Palestinian residents hold Israeli residency permits that are relatively easy for the Israeli interior minister to revoke.

The Imam is a fierce critic of the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. This is not the first time the 85-year-old preacher was detained. He had previously been detained by Israeli forces and was barred from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for months. He was also banned from travelling abroad and prevented from communicating with Palestinian personalities inside Israel.