Off the wire
• Brazil mining giant says strike in NW Mozambique mine "illegal"  • Date set for debate on motion of no confidence in Zuma  • China committed to FOCAC resolutions: official  • UN chief slams violence in protection site in South Sudan  • 1st LD Writethru: Gold up on weaker U.S. equities  • Urgent: Gold up on weaker U.S. equities despite positive jobless data  • (Recast) S. African academic says Confucius institutes enhance China-Africa ties  • One third of U.S. adults don't get enough sleep: study  • British FTSE 100 decreases 0.97 pct on Thursday  • Volvo Cars triples profits, breaks annual sales record  
You are here: 　 Home

2 detained after visiting hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner

Xinhua, February 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Muslim cleric and a former Arab Israeli lawmaker were detained by police on Thursday after visiting a hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner, the Israeli police said.

The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement leader Raed Salah and former Arab Israeli lawmaker Muhammed Barakeh were detained for interrogation over allegedly disturbing public order and illegal gathering at the Emek Medical Center in Afula in northern Israel, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Raed Salah is the firebrand leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which Israeli government outlawed several months ago. Police said a hospital staff member filed a complaint against him over his behavior.

Salah has been incarcerated for 11 months last year for incitement to violence and racism over a speech he delivered in Jerusalem in 2007.

Barakeh, a former lawmaker who currently serves as the chief of the High Follow Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an umbrella organization representing Arab citizens on the national level, was taken into custody for allegedly refusing to leave the premise defying police orders, the Times of Israel website reported.

Arab Israelis is the term used for Palestinians who remained in Israel after its establishment in 1948 and the ensuing war, and they are Israeli citizens, constituting 20 percent of the population.

They were released after a short while and ordered to stay away from the premise, Samri added.

The two reportedly went to the hospital to visit 33-year-old Muhammed al-Qeeq, a Palestinian journalist who has been on a hunger strike for the past 85 days, protesting his administrative detention, which started in November.

The Israeli Shin Bet security service accused him of being involved in terrorist activities with the Hamas Islamist group.

Administrative detention is a practice against security suspects, mostly Palestinians, allowing authorities to detain people without trial for renewable periods of six months. Endit