Palestine's Raed Salah gets 6 more months in solitary

By Abdul Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli Central Court in the southern city of Beersheba on Thursday slapped Palestinian resistance icon Raed Salah with six more months in solitary confinement, according to Salah’s lawyer.

The head of the banned Islamic Movement in Israel, Salah has already served out six months in isolation.

“The court… today approved a request by the Israeli Prison Authority to extend Sheikh Salah’s solitary confinement for another six months,” lawyer Khaled Zbarqa told Anadolu Agency.

"We see no justification or reason for extending his solitary confinement except out of revenge; to punish him for his criticisms of Israel’s policy vis-à-vis Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa,” Zbarqa said.

According to the lawyer, Salah -- who is barred from issuing press statements -- heard the court’s ruling with a sardonic smile.

Taleb Abu Arar, an Arab member of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) condemned the court decision.

“Salah’s arrest and continued solitary confinement is entirely political in nature," Abu Arar said in a Thursday statement.

Last summer, Israeli police arrested Salah from his home in the city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel before convicting him on charges of “inciting violence”.

Israel officially outlawed Salah’s Islamic Movement in 2015 for allegedly engaging in “anti-Israel activities”.