Lawyer Khaled Zabarqa revealed today that the Israeli police have decided to ban Sheikh Ekrima Sabri (86 years old), the Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, from entering the mosque for six months following his Friday sermon last week in which he mourned Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, who was assassinated in Tehran.
Zabarqa, a member of Sheikh Sabri’s defense team, told Reuters: “The decision to ban Sheikh Ekrima from Al-Aqsa Mosque is an administrative decision issued by the Jerusalem police,” noting that “there was no judicial procedure in the matter.”
He affirmed that “the Israeli police do not have the authority to ban Sheikh Ekrima Sabri from Al-Aqsa Mosque,” adding, “This is a mosque, and Sheikh Ekrima is one of its preachers.”
The Israeli police stated today: “Last Friday, the central unit in the Jerusalem district opened an investigation with the approval of the public prosecutor against Imam Ekrima Sabri, a resident of East Jerusalem, after he made inciting chants and expressed support for Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leaders of the terrorist Hamas movement, during his sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The police added in their statement: “In recent days, the police investigation procedures were completed, and the acting commander of the Jerusalem district signed an administrative order banning Ekrima Sabri from the Al-Aqsa compound for six months, until February 2025.”
The Israeli police arrested Sheikh Ekrima at his home last Friday, later releasing him and initially banning him from entering Al-Aqsa for a week before extending the ban to six months today.
Lawyer Zabarqa explained that “this ban is issued by an authority that does not have the jurisdiction; it is an occupying power and is pressured by extremist Jewish groups that use it to pursue Sheikh Ekrima Sabri.”
He added: “This is a first-class persecution measure. There is no reason for such an order, for such a ban, even according to Israeli law, it is baseless.”
Regarding appealing the decision in Israeli courts, Zabarqa said: “We will not approach the Israeli judiciary. There is a national and religious decision not to resort to the Israeli judiciary, as it represents the occupation authority, and we do not want to give any authority of the occupation legitimacy or recognition of its jurisdiction over the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
