JERUSALEM, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sheik Raed Salah, a spiritual and political leader of Muslims in Israel, was convicted by Israeli court on Thursday of inciting violence six years ago during a visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
In 2007, Salah attended the mosque of Al Aqsa Salah following construction works at the nearby Mugrabim Gate, which he said ruined holy Muslim sites that are integral part of the mosque.
According to the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, Salah gave a speech at the place and said: "The Israeli occupation will be removed, God willing, as others like it were removed in the past."
According to the Court, the speech incited riots and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli Border Police in Jerusalem, and led to the injury of three policemen.
The indictment included also incitement to racism, however, the Court acquitted Salah of this charge.
Salah is the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. This is not the first time Salah's Islamist and anti-occupation line put him in clash with the Israeli legal system. In 2010 he was sentenced to ten months in prison on charges of rioting and assaulting a police officer. In 2003 he was convicted in a plea bargain in contacting a foreign agent and providing services to the Islamist movement Hamas.
The northern branch of the Islamic Movement dismissed the verdict, saying Salah's statements are not considered as incitement to violence. "The sheikh will continue to act against Israeli takeover of the holy site," a spokesperson of the Islamic Movement's northern branch said in a statement.
