JERUSALEM, May 8, 2016 (WAFA) – Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the banned Northern Islamic Movement in Israel, began on Sunday a nine-month imprisonment term, after being convicted of incitement to violence by the Israeli authorities.

He was convicted two and a half years ago following a sermon he gave in Wadi Joz in East Jerusalem in 2007.

Salah left his hometown Umm al-Fahm in Wadi Ara region this morning in a convoy and arrived at Ohalei Kedar Prison near Beersheba at 10 A.M.

He said he did not fear prison and that he was sure he would emerge stronger than ever, adding that he regarded any prison sentence he received as political persecution.

He assured that a prison term would not change his opinions about Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, and called on all Muslims to go to Al-Aqsa in order to make their presence there felt every day.

On April 18, the High Court of Justice rejected Salah‘s petition against his conviction for incitement, but reduced the original 11-month sentence to nine months.

M.N