AP security forces arrested DJ Sama Abdul Hadi and several others at Saturday’s party in Nabi Musa, the place where Moses, believed to be buried in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and Jericho, is believed to be buried.
Videos were posted on social media of the event, which angered local Palestinians. These images, along with reports of partygoers drinking and taking drugs at the sacred site, caused hundreds of people to come down to the party to break it. Many were also angry with the AP for allowing it to move forward.
AP Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said an investigation is underway and those responsible for the event will be brought to justice.
Hadi Mashal, a lawyer representing Abdul Hadi, told CNN that she is being charged with violating Article 275 of the Palestinian Penal Code, which criminalizes the “desecration” of sacred places or symbols made with the intent to insult a religion or a specific group.
“Are you infringing the article so far? All I can tell you is that I don’t see how,” Mashal said. “But the investigation is not over yet. We hope it will be completed in a few days.”
DJ’s father, Saad Abdul Hadi, told CNN that he was very upset by his daughter’s arrest and rejected claims that he had desecrated a sacred place, saying the party had taken place elsewhere in the venue.
“It’s not true that people were drunk or taking drugs,” he said. “It’s also not true that he played techno music in the mosque, in fact no one entered the mosque. Everything was held in the bazaar, where visitors come to buy and stay in the guest house.”
Saad Abdul Hadi said his daughter was being singled out by the AP to hide her shame at the public reaction to the party.
“It looks like the Palestinian Authority didn’t know how to control street anger, so they used Sama as a scapegoat for something the street saw as a mistake.”
Saad Abdul Hadi added that his daughter had been commissioned by a Paris-based producer to perform in various Palestinian historical sites and had received permission from the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which is responsible for the Nabi Musa Bazaar. unlike the mosque on the site managed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
CNN has obtained a letter from the tourism ministry, granting permission to DJ Sama and the producer to film Nabi Musa, as long as they “comply with the necessary security measures” and “respect the importance and religious and cultural privacy of the place.” .
Abdul Hadi has also been charged with violating Covid-19 proceedings, according to his lawyer.
CNN has contacted the Ministry of Tourism to comment. AP Prime Minister Shtayyeh is also the Minister of Religious Affairs.
But prominent religious figures have rushed to denounce the techno party, in an indication of the burden that the episode has had.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the AP’s supreme judge and adviser to its president on religion and Islamic relations, said in a tweet: “I am disgusted and angry at what happened at the Nabi Musa mosque … and I still don’t. I know who is responsible for this sin, but whoever is responsible for it should receive a deterrent punishment commensurate with the atrocity of what happened, because the mosque is the house of God and his holiness is the holiness of our religion. ” .
In an interview with Palestinian radio station NAS Radio, Hussam Abu-Alrub, the deputy minister of religious affairs, said it was his ministry that was responsible for the mosque, and yet no action was taken. permission to hold any event inside.
“The act that was committed was unacceptable and outside of all our religious principles,” Abu-Alrub added. “We in the Awqaf ministry will not remain silent and will monitor the investigation.”
DJ Sama is one of the most popular DJs in the region and is the first Palestinian woman to gain a major role in the electronic music community.
His lawyer urged people to look at the facts. “If he wasn’t given a license, the event wouldn’t have happened. Period,” Mashal said. “So who’s responsible for not thinking what the reaction would be? I don’t know. Is it Sama’s fault? That remains to be seen.”
Zeena Saifi reported from Amman, Jordan. Abeer Salman and Andrew Carey reported from Jerusalem.