Former preacher of Aqsa Mosque dies in Sudan

Sheikh Mohammed Siam was deported by Israel to Sudan in 1988

By Mustafa Habosh

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Former preacher of East Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed Siam, has died of a stroke in Sudan.

"Seyam has passed away at a hospital in Sudan," Palestinian resistance group Hamas said in a statement on Saturday.

"Sheikh Siam was a great Palestinian leader, a great scholar, an Arab writer and a symbol of the Palestinian people," it added.

A former rector of the Gaza-based Islamic University, Siam was deported by Israeli authorities in 1988 to Sudan on claims of authoring Hamas statements and membership in the group.

In 1994, he left Sudan to Yemen, where he served as president of the Palestine League and a representative of Hamas. He also served as the dean of the Abdullah al-Ahmar Institute for Jerusalem Studies in Yemen.

Following the outbreak of the Yemeni conflict in 2014, Siam returned to Sudan where he remained until he passed away on Friday.

In addition to being a preacher and writer, Siam was considered one of the most renowned Palestinian poets.

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