JERUSALEM, 18 July 2005 — The leader of a radical branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement was secretly released from prison before dawn yesterday and taken home after spending more than two years in prison for security offenses, the Prisons Authority said in a statement.
Sheikh Raed Salah, founder of the Islamic Movement in the Jewish state, was arrested in May 2003, convicted on terrorism charges and jailed for 3-1/2 years. Salah, who has denied Israeli accusations that he funded the Hamas resistance group, was originally scheduled to be released today, after serving two-thirds of the sentence he began in May 2003. The Prisons Authority said he was released early for “operational reasons and after an assessment of the situation with intelligence and security officials.”
Arriving in his hometown of Umm El-Fahm, Salah denied wrongdoing, saying money he provided to charities in the West Bank and Gaza was aimed at helping bereaved families rather than funding attacks in the 4-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising. “I have nothing to hide,” Salah told throngs of supporters.
Prisons Authority spokeswoman Orit Messer-Harel said the terms of Salah’s release bar him from entering Jerusalem without police permission, traveling outside Israel, or affiliating with terror organizations or anyone associated with such groups.
Salah and four other Islamic Movement activists were originally charged with directing funds to Hamas. He accused the Shin Bet secret service of fabricating the charges leveled against him and his colleagues. Under the terms of a plea bargain agreement, the five only admitted to security offenses in exchange for reduced jail terms.
Unlike the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli Arabs are full citizens whose rights to equality are guaranteed under the law. But the Jewish majority discriminates against them, especially in funding to local authorities, schools and public services. Israeli authorities think Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population, have become increasingly militant during the fighting. Thirteen Israeli Arabs were killed by security forces in riots to express solidarity with the Palestinians in October 2001.
Under the terms of his release, Salah must seek Prisons Authority approval before traveling to Jerusalem over the next four months. Salah voiced defiance, saying he had no need for the approval of the “occupying power” to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
