Israeli police officers on Wednesday arrested two prominent Palestinian cultural leaders at their home in east Jerusalem for allegedly financing terrorist organizations.
Rania Elias, who heads the Yabous Cultural Center and her husband Suhail Khoury, Director General of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, were detained at their home in Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood.
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The Yabous Center and the conservatory were also raided by police and agents from the Israel Tax Authority, who confiscated documents at both locations.
The Palestine Liberation Organization condemned the arrests and raids as part of "Israel's violent and systematic campaign against Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem".
According to Elias's lawyer Nasir Odeh, the couple was "detained on charges of financing terrorist organizations."
But he stressed that Israel's broad anti-terrorism laws include a wide range of offenses, including accepting money from organizations that the Jewish state has designated as "terrorist."
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement that police and Tax Authority officers "detained "three suspects in connection with tax evasion and fraud," without naming the individuals involved.
It confirmed the searches "at two organizations that were run in east Jerusalem claiming that they were involved in Palestinian culture."
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Rosenfeld said the individuals were being questioned and the investigation was ongoing.
The Yabous Cultural Center in east Jerusalem was established in the mid-1990s with a mandate to celebrate Palestinian culture and Arab heritage in the city.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
