JERUSALEM Feb 25 (JMCC) - Lawyers representing the leader of the Islamic movement in Israel have filed an appeal of his nine-month sentence, slated to begin on Sunday.

Sheikh Raed Salah was found guilty of rioting and assaulting a police officer during clashes three years ago.

We relied upon Sheikh Raed Salah's testimony at the magistrate court hearing, which state that the trial is political and that Israeli measures in Jerusalem and at al-Aqsa mosque are the crime, said attorney Khalid Zabarqa. 

The legal petition asks for the nullification of the ruling on the basis that it takes into consideration political issues.

Salah's lawyers said that such legal work is part of the movement's acts of protest.

This judicial path runs parallel to the political and popular resistance, said attorney Hussein Abu Hussein. We filed an appeal with a clear legal account as to why the judicial ruling against Sheikh Raed Salah is unjust and arbitrary and the sentence harsh and disproportionate to the incident.

On January 13, the magistrate court sentenced Salah to nine months in prison, six months suspended sentence and a fine of NIS 7,500 for participating in protests against excavations damaging the path leading to the al-Aqsa mosque's Bab il-Mughrabi, which adjoins the Western Wall where Jews pray.