Sheikh Ra’ed Salah head of the Islamic Movement in Israel was finally allowed on Wednesday to respond to the indictment filed against him by the Israeli prosecutor at the magistrate court in Haifa.
It was the first time Sheikh Salah was able to address the court to refute the charges leveled against him since his detention on August 15 2017.
Lawyer Khaled az-Zabarqa a member of the defense crew stated that Sheikh Salah gave his testimony in response to the indictment filed against him by the Israeli prosecution after muzzling him during all court hearings held since his arrest.
Zabarqa added that Sheikh Salah highlighted in his statement the Islamic Arab and Palestinian constants as he was clarifying his position on the claims made against him by the prosecutor.
In December 2018 the Israeli magistrate court in Haifa ordered Sheikh Salah to be placed under house arrest at his home in Umm Al-Fahm after he spent six months under house arrest in Kafr Kanna
Salah was released from jail in July on condition he not be allowed to return to his home city of Umm Al-Fahm after he served one year in prison. He was also banned from accessing tools of communication including telephones the internet and social media sites.
Later the court looked into an appeal filed by his defense team and accepted it allowing him to return to his home.
