After 16 months in solitary confinement the Israeli authorities on Monday morning released Sheikh Ra’ed Salah head of the banned Islamic Movement in 1948 occupied Palestine (Israel).
Scores of Palestinian citizens rallied in the morning outside the Israeli Megiddo jail to receive and see Sheikh Salah while many of them were holding green flags.
Since Sunday the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel has been preparing a program to receive Sheikh Salah and escort him in a procession of cars to his hometown Umm al-Fahm.
The program also includes the holding of a news conference speeches and a welcoming reception for Sheikh Salah in Umm al-Fahm.
Sheikh Salah was detained in August 2017 and indicted for incitement over his criticism of the deployment of metal detectors at the entrances leading to the Aqsa Mosque compound in Occupied Jerusalem.
At the time he was sentenced to 28 months in prison by an Israeli court but he served 11 months in jail half of which in solitary confinement before he was moved to house arrest.
In August Salah returned to prison after two years under house arrest.
His lawyer has accused Israel of prosecuting Salah for his religious and national beliefs and not because of any criminal offence.
Born in 1958 Sheikh Salah a resident of Umm al-Fahm has faced arbitrary arrest and incarceration multiple times before because of his anti-occupation speeches. He is a Palestinian icon known for being a staunch defender of the Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
In 2003 Salah was arrested on allegations of funding a Palestinian resistance group. Two years later he was banned by Israel from travel.
In 2010 the Palestinian Sheikh was sentenced to five months in prison for allegedly assaulting an Israeli police officer.
