..: The Criminal Magistrates Court of Jerusalem :..

On Nov. 20, 2007, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court of the Occupation sentenced Sheikh Dr. Taisir Rajab Al-Tamimi, the Chief of Judges of the Palestinian Authority and the Chairman of High Council of Islamic Law for Palestine, to a suspended sentence of six months in jail and 10.000 Shekels (about 1764 Euros). Sheikh Al-Tamimi had been arrested by the Israeli police during the holy month of Ramadan in 2006 at the entrance of the Al-Aqsa mosque. His crime ? Dr. Tamimi was accused of praying “illegally” in the Al-Aqsa Islamic Mosque in Jerusalem.

Dr. Al-Tamimi told me that after five sessions in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court of the occupation, the judge, a woman, fined him with 10.000 Shekels and imposed a suspended sentence of six months jail. The judge ordered him to pay the NIS 10.000 within sixty days after the judgment. Dr. Al-Tamimi said that he told the judge that he rejected her verdict on grounds that her verdict was a political decision, that it was a gross violation on his right of religious worship which are privileged under international laws.

Dr. Al-Tamimi added that the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem is committed to justifying crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people, and that their rulings have no legitimacy. He regards the ruling of this judge in the context of collective punishment against all the Palestinians as he is the chief of judges, the highest Islamic authority in Palestine. Dr. Al-Tamimi said that he plans to file a complaint against the judge of Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem at the International criminal court in The Haag. He went to Egypt last week in order to coordinate the necessary steps of filing a complaint against this judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court with The Arab Lawyers Union.

I tried to find this ruling on the website of the Magistrate’s court, but this was not possible. It appears that there are no court decisions on the Internet since the end of 2006. This is telling and it might be the result of a dawning awareness among these so-called “judges” that the unjust sentences which they routinely impose on Palestinians constitute crimes within the definitions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948 and other statutes as codified in the laws of Israel and many other nations. If this law was properly applied, these so-called judges would be themselves sitting in jail, or worse.

What would happen if a Cardinal, Archbishop, Patriarch, the Supreme Vicar of Christ, or even a Priest, was arrested, sentenced to jail and fined thousands of Euros because he went during Christmas to pray in a Church or Cathedral of his homeland, and talked about the establishment of friendly relations between the holy religions? This question is addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, to the religious authorities and to the governments who went on Nov. 27, 2007, to the Annapolis Summit to “support the peace talks and negotiations” between the Ehud Olmert of the Israeli Occupation and the American employee, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.

I know Sheikh Al-Tamimi personally as a peace activist, and I have interviewed him several times. He always participated in International Christian-Jew-Muslim conferences aimed at improving the good relations between the three religions. Sheikh Al-Tamimi is in good relations with many known religious Jewish and Christian personalities, such as Patriarch Michael Sabah, and the authorities of various other Christian denominations. He is a well known and moderate judge, he strongly supports women rights and he took many courageous decisions which served the interests of women in Palestine. I never had any problem with him due to my modern dressing.