Nazareth imam sentenced to 3 years in prison for incitement

The imam of a Nazareth mosque was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison for supporting terrorist organizations and incitement to violence.

The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court found that Nazim Mahmoud Salim Scapa, 47, encouraged terror attacks and robberies against Jews and Christian tourists in his sermons at Shihab al-Din mosque, where he was imam for 15 years. A terror organization allegedly inspired by Scapa has been charged for the 2009 murder of cab driver Efim Weinstein.

The presiding judge said that Scapa incited his followers to the “highest and most dangerous level” of violence and called it one of the “more serious cases ever heard in Israel’s courts.”

Scapa’s attorney said the punishment was too severe and his client had been misunderstood, according to a Ynet News report.