Raed Salah put on house arrest after 10 months in jail
Leader of the outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement, who is on trial on charges of incitement, put on full house arrest in Kafr Kanna, where he receives a hero's welcome.
The Haifa District Court decided to release Salah on Thursday, but the prosecution appealed the decision. After the appeal was rejected Friday, he was released from jail.
Salah, who was arrested ten months ago on charges of incitement, will be on full house arrest with an ankle monitor in Kafr Kanna until the end of legal proceedings against him.
While on house arrest, Salah is allowed to speak only to his family and is barred from talking to the press.
"I'm not allowed to talk, but the right time will come in which I will," Salah said after his release.
His wife said she was worried he won't be released. "This is political persecution over his stance on the al-Aqsa Mosque," she claimed.
Dozens of people greeted him outside the court, shouting "We will sacrifice our lives for the al-Aqsa Mosque." In Kafr Kanna, hundreds of residents prepared a hero's welcome, flying the Islamic Movement flags.
One Kafr Kanna resident said villagers were overjoyed at Salah's release. "We're willing to do everything for the sheikh. A leader like him should be taken care of and supported. The police and the Shin Bet must leave him alone and stop persecuting him. They should deal with the crime and murders in the Arab society instead. Innocent people are in prison and the criminals are on the loose," he said.
Salah was charged in August 2017 with three counts of inciting terror and of supporting an illegal association.
The indictment refers to remarks he made after the Temple Mount terror attack, some of which were part of a speech he'd given during the funerals of the three Israeli Arab terrorists who murdered two Israeli police officers.
On December 27, 2015, Salah made a speech in Baqa al-Gharbiyye in which he said the book The King's Torah allows the killing of Palestinian children in accordance with the "Israeli occupation that has declared war on Palestinian girls."
In another instance, on July 21, 2017, Salah delivered a sermon during Friday prayers in Umm al-Fahm to a crowd of hundreds of people. He praised the Murabitat, an outlawed Islamist movement funded by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, for standing up to Israeli security forces at the Lions' Gate in Jerusalem.
"Until those moments, the Israeli occupation wounded 79 members of al-Aqsa's Mourabitoun (male members) and Mourabitat (female members), some in dangerous condition with head and chest wounds, whose pure blood was spilled," Salah said. "I ask Allah to welcome all of the martyrs from the al-Aqsa mosque today, including (the three terrorists who carried out the Temple Mount attack)."
According to the indictment, "the accused made remarks of praise, sympathy or encouragement for a terrorist act, support of terrorism or identification with the terrorists. The content of the (sermon) and the circumstances in which it was made raise a real possibility it will prompt an act of terrorism."
On July 27, 2017, during the funeral of the three Temple Mount terrorists, Salah spoke in front of thousands of people: "Don't think those killed in the name of God are dead. No, they are alive and work for God. In these moments we shall pray to God to raise their status in paradise, and in moments like this we can only ask God, may He be praised, to forgive all in this prayer from the bottom of our hearts. In this high status in paradise, God honor them with drinking of water along with Prophet Muhammad, may He be praised, after which they will never be thirsty again."
