Court Suggests Public Service Instead of Jail for Raji Ighbarieh Due to Health Condition

SadaNews - A judge from the central occupation court in Haifa today, Wednesday, proposed a sentence of community service instead of actual imprisonment for Raji Ighbarieh (74 years old), a leader of the "Abna' al-Balad" movement, due to his difficult health condition and advanced age.

The judge's proposal came during the continuation of the hearing in Ighbarieh's case, which began yesterday, Tuesday, at the central court in Haifa, where he was defended by a team from the "Adalah" legal center, represented by lawyer Dr. Hassan Jabareen.

The judge indicated the possibility of an alternative sentence after Ighbarieh was presented to an adult probation officer, in addition to reviewing the medical reports related to his health condition and recent developments.

The court listened, for the second consecutive day, to the defense team's pleas, as well as to Ighbarieh's testimony before the judge and the public prosecution.

During his testimony, Ighbarieh spoke about his administrative detention that began in July 2025, and the conditions of his detention in Israeli prisons, explaining that he was subjected to torture and mistreatment, including the breaking of five of his ribs while in Megiddo prison, as well as being deprived of medication and treatment and not receiving the necessary medical care from the Israeli prison authority.

Ighbarieh indicated that after his release, he sought medical examinations for the fractures resulting from the assault, as he stated, where it was found that he had contracted a new illness due to the medical neglect he experienced during his time in prison.

He also addressed his political and social journey, and his role in establishing the "Abna' al-Balad" movement, in addition to his work in education in the city of Umm al-Fahm, where he stated that he has graduated many generations over decades of his work in the educational field.

Ighbarieh requested the court not to return him to prison at this current stage, pointing to the deterioration of his health condition since his release last year.

Ighbarieh is being tried on the basis of an indictment filed against him in 2018, following the posting of ten publications on social media, specifically via the "Facebook" platform, where the public prosecution attributed to him charges of "incitement to terrorism" and "supporting a terrorist organization".

Source: Arabs 48