Sheikh Raed Salah
Photo: George Ginsburg
Sheikh Salah charged with obstructing officer
Islamic Movement leader charged with violently refusing security checks on Jordanian border
An indictment was filed with the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court Wednesday against the leader of the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, charging him with obstructing a law enforcement officer on duty.
The indictment cites an incident that occurred in March, when Salah arrived at the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan together with his wife and asked to cross into Israel. The couple was taken to a separate wing to be checked, due to Salah's public post.
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But he lost all control when a female officer tried to examine his wife, screaming at the officer that she was being disrespectful and bodily denying her access to his spouse, the indictment says.
The commander of the crossing asked Salah to calm down and leave the examination room, but he continued to yell and obstruct the officer, and ordered his wife to leave the room as well, it adds.
Two other officers were alerted to the scene and they forced him out of the room, but the prosecution claims he continued to argue loudly and, after having been seated, got up, pushed the officers out of the way, and tried to enter the room again, kicking at the door.
The prosecution claims that the kicked-in door caused injury to one of the officers.
It was Salah's second arrest this year. In February he was nabbed by police on suspicion of setting fire to a eucalyptus grove in southern Israel, in protest against conservation work being done there by the Jewish National Fund.
He had just been released from Ayalon Prison a few months prior, where he was serving a five-month sentence for assaulting a police officer. Other prior offenses include taking part in the May 31 Gaza flotilla.
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