Adalah Files Petition to Supreme Court: Travel Restriction on Sheikh Ra'ed Salah is Unconstitutional
Today, Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, the Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel; Al Meezan Association for Human Rights; and in its own name, against the Minister of Interior. The petitioners asked that the Court declare the Minister's order of 16 February 2002, prohibiting Sheikh Ra'ed from traveling outside the country for a period of six months, unconstitutional and void.
The Minister issued the order pursuant to Article 6 of the Emergency Regulations (Foreign Travel) (1948) on the grounds that Sheikh Ra'ed's travel allegedly constitutes a threat to state security. The order was based solely on secret evidence, and Sheikh Ra'ed was not given the opportunity to challenge the order or the Minister's claims.
In the petition, Adalah argued that the Minister's order is illegal, and that the Court should cancel it immediately. The order violates Sheikh Ra'ed's right to due process, his constitutional right to freedom of movement, and also his constitutional right to freedom of religion, as it threatens to prevent him from completing al-Umra pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in June 2002. Al-Umra is one of the most important pilgrimages in Islam. Further, Adalah argued that the restriction on Sheikh Ra'ed's movement is overbroad and unreasonable. It fails to satisfy the test of proportionality, as it completely denies Sheikh Ra'ed's right to travel outside the country for a long period of time, regardless of the purpose of his travel.
Sheikh Ra'ed Salah is one of the founders of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and is widely respected in the Islamic world as a spiritual leader. Sheikh Ra'ed served as mayor of Umm al-Fahem from 1989 to 2001, before taking on the leadership of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
