ISRAEL PROSECUTOR DEMANDS COURT TO CRIMINALIZE THAKBIR AT AQSA MOSQUE

Al Quds, 17 Rabi’ul Awwal 1437/28 December 2015 (MINA) – In a blatant violation of the Muslims’ freedom of worship, the Israeli prosecution office has asked a court in Occupied Jerusalem to criminalize the use of the Islamic Thakbir expression, “Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest),” inside the Aqsa Mosque.

This came up after the Israeli police arrested a Palestinian young man from the 1948 occupied lands on a charge of shouting Allahu Akbar as a horde of Jewish settlers were touring the Mosque’s courtyards, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The police claimed that chanting such a religious slogan would stir up riots at the Mosque.

Palestinian lawyer Ramzi Katilat described the Israeli step as a dangerous precedent, pointing out that the previous arrest incidents that had happened at the Mosque because of shouting Thakbir were not dealt with as a crime and only led the police to question the detainee and then release him or ban his entry to the Islamic holy shrine.

Katilat affirmed that he and other lawyers would file a petition with the same court to explain that the Thakbir chant inside the Mosque is part of the freedoms of worship and expression and how the prosecutor’s request would violate these rights.(T/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)