The arrest occurred as occupation forces surrounded the sheikh’s home during a session discussing the decision to revoke his residency. 

Israeli occupation forces arrested Sheikh Akram Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque and head of the Islamic Authority in Jerusalem, on Friday evening, just hours after he delivered the Friday sermon. 

Video footage shows Israeli police and soldiers surrounding the sheikh in front of his house in the Al-Suwana neighborhood of Jerusalem. Leaning on his cane, Sheikh Sabri was led to a police vehicle.

The moment Israeli forces arrested former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, from his home in Jerusalem over mourning the Palestinian leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. pic.twitter.com/ShhD8YLpaI

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) August 2, 2024

According to Hamza Qatina, Sheikh Sabri’s lawyer, the arrest occurred as occupation forces surrounded the sheikh’s home during a session discussing the decision to revoke his residency. 

Sheikh Sabri was transferred to ‘Room No. 4’ at the Al-Maskobiya Investigation Center, a facility designated for interrogating Jerusalemites, Al-Jazeera reported.

Lawyer Khaled Zabarqa told Al-Jazeera that Sheikh Sabri had mourned the passing of Hamas’ political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh during his sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Zabarqa mentioned that after the sermon, a wave of incitement against the sheikh began, culminating in the raid on his home and his subsequent detention.

Zabarqa argued that Sheikh Sabri’s statements, according to Israeli law, did not constitute a violation. He emphasized that it is natural for someone of Sheikh Sabri’s stature to mourn a Palestinian leader.

During the Friday sermon, the preacher of Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ikrema Sabri mourned the head of Hamas Movement’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya who was assassinated in an Israeli attack in Tehran.

Following the Friday prayer, tens of thousands of worshipers performed in Aqsa… pic.twitter.com/0sCCumXseT

— Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) August 2, 2024

During his sermon, which was broadcast live by the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem on its Facebook page, Sheikh Sabri said, “The people of Jerusalem and its surroundings, and those at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh with God.”

“We ask God Almighty to have mercy on him and place him in His spacious gardens with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. What excellent companions they are,” he added.

The sheikh then led a funeral prayer in absentia for Haniyeh, all martyrs, and all Muslims present, as worshippers responded with takbeers. 

🚨 Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Ikrima Sabri was abducted by the occupation police after mourning the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh during Friday prayers.

Sheikh Sabri has been arrested several times recently and over the years, where he was investigated, banned from Al-Aqsa… pic.twitter.com/a2Wf5gdbMy

— Dr. Zain Abbadi (@ZainAbbadi11) August 2, 2024

On Wednesday, Hamas announced Haniyeh’s assassination along with one of his bodyguards in a “Zionist raid” that targeted his residence in Tehran, a day after he participated in the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Regarding the ongoing threats to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Sabri stated that the mosque “remains a target for extremist and inciting Jewish groups,” rejecting recent statements by an extremist official in the occupying authorities calling for changes to the mosque’s status quo, aiming to impose sovereignty over it.

(PC, AJA)