Birth: 4/3/1945 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Kafr Kana in 1945; received a BA in Law (LLD) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967; began practicing as a lawyer in June 1969; was charged in 1971 with joining Fateh and sentenced to ten years in prison (7 years in prison and 3 years suspended); after his release, worked as a lawyer, often representing security prisoners, incl. Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other Islamic activists, though saying that he does not endorse their political agenda; member of the Israeli Knesset since 1996 for the United Arab List (UAL); was member of several Knesset Committees, incl. the Economics Committee, House Committee, and the Committee for Public Petitions; was a member of the Science and Technology Committee as well as the State Control Committee; also served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset from 1999-2003; between 2005-06, was a representative of one stream of the Islamic Movement in Israel which is part of the UAL; received, in Feb. 2002, a warning letter from the Or Commission of Inquiry into the Oct. 2000 protests accusing him of “conveying messages supporting violence as a means to attain the goals of the Arab sector in Israel” and saying he may be harmed by the inquiry or its results; member of the Islamic Movement’s committee for citizen rights; did not run in the 2006 Knesset elections; practices law.
