فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The lawyer of Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, announced that his client was arrested on Friday on charges of “terrorism” following a sermon in which he described Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh as a “martyr” after his assassination in Iran in an attack attributed to Israel.
Lawyer Hamza Qatina told AFP that Sheikh Ekrima Sabri (85 years old), the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Islamic Council, “is currently under investigation” on suspicion of “inciting terrorism” for describing the deceased Hamas leader as a “martyr” during Friday’s sermon.
In a related context, thousands of worshippers performed funeral prayers for Ismail Haniyeh in a mosque in Doha, Qatar, before he was buried near the Qatari capital where he had been living in exile.
The Israeli police announced in a statement – without mentioning Sheikh Sabri’s name – that they had “opened an investigation into an imam suspected of making inciting statements and supporting terrorism during a sermon delivered (on Friday).” The police also reported the arrest of a man in his twenties on Friday for making “inciting statements” during Friday prayers.
It is worth noting that Sheikh Ekrima Sabri had been charged with glorifying terrorism by Israel at the end of last June, following alleged statements supporting an attacker who shot at guards of the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank in October 2022, resulting in the death of a soldier. He was also accused of praising an attacker who killed three Israelis and wounded six others in Tel Aviv in April 2022 before being killed by security guards. The imam denied these accusations, asserting that he only offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran. Hamas and Iran blamed Israel for the attack, while the latter did not comment on the matter, and both parties vowed to respond.
It should be noted that Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in the Noble Sanctuary in East Jerusalem, the sector occupied and annexed by Israel. The site is considered the third holiest place in Islam and the holiest place in Judaism, and is at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
