Israel tries Al-Aqsa imam Ekrima Sabri over alleged ‘incitement’

Israeli authorities have begun the trial of Al-Aqsa Mosque imam, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, on charges of “incitement”, with the first hearing held on Tuesday.

The charges, filed in August 2024, relate to two condolence speeches the Palestinian imam delivered in 2022, as well as his mourning of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his assassination in 2024.

Sabri’s defence team says the case forms part of a broader pattern of political, religious, and ideological persecution carried out by Israeli authorities against him in recent years.

Khaled Zabarka, head of Sabri’s legal team, told Middle East Eye that the case represents “the embodiment of the racist persecution” targeting the imam.

He said the prosecution is part of a wider effort to silence influential community and religious leaders who consistently speak out against the Israeli occupation.

“Sabri is an important symbol. He speaks with clarity about the undisputed Islamic claim to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is active in defending Palestinian causes more broadly,” Zabarka said.

His targeting, he added, is part of an attempt to “engineer Palestinian public consciousness” by silencing popular voices.

“The persecution of preachers, imams, and religious discourse is, in my view, part of a plan designed to pave the way for a scheme directed against Al-Aqsa.”

Sabri, 86, is the former grand mufti of Jerusalem, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council, and one of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s senior imams.

He has delivered Friday sermons at Al-Aqsa, in occupied East Jerusalem, since the early 1970s and has been arrested multiple times by Israeli forces.

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His trial comes amid an intensifying Israeli crackdown on Palestinians at the mosque. 

Israeli forces increasingly impose restrictions on Palestinian access to Al-Aqsa, while allowing larger numbers of Israeli ultra-nationalists to routinely enter the site.

Israeli authorities have also banned dozens of people from reaching the site, including many of its imams, chief among them Sabri.

In many cases, imams were barred from Al-Aqsa for delivering sermons that mentioned Gaza, according to Zabarka.

“They prohibit even the word ‘Gaza’,” the lawyer said. 

“This is unprecedented. It is an outright intrusion into the Friday sermons at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a new trend that should be a cause for concern.”

Israel’s control of East Jerusalem, including the Old City where Al-Aqsa is located, violates several principles of international law.

International law stipulates that an occupying power holds no sovereignty over the territory it occupies and is prohibited from making permanent changes to it.