Middle East Monitor / April 8, 2021
The defence team of the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel Sheikh Raed Salah has slammed the Israel Prison Service‘s decision to transfer him to Raymond prison.
The team announced in a statement on Thursday that the Israel Prison Service had transferred Sheikh Salah to Raymond prison, 100 kilometres away from his previous prison in Beersheba, and 250 kilometres from his hometown of Umm Al-Fahm, without providing legal justification.
The team described the move as a form of: “Punitive violation, harassment and targeting of Sheikh Salah and his family, and a violation of human rights.”
“The Israeli establishment’s behaviour confirms the targeting of Sheikh Salah, who has been unjustly imprisoned for defending his views, ideas and values and over his adherence to his Palestinian Arab identity, his Islamic beliefs and the message of human justice,” added his team.
The defence team called on international legal and human rights institutions, civil society organisations and activists to: “Expose these violations against Sheikh Salah, and to announce more campaigns of solidarity with this global humanitarian symbol, and to pressure the Israeli institution to stop its targeting of Salah’s peaceful, civil and human path.”
Last March, the Beersheba District Court extended the solitary confinement of Sheikh Salah for a period of six months.
