Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Israel Islamic Movement, was convicted Thursday on charges of taking part in a disturbance and attacking a police officer with the intent of hindering him during Muslim riots in 2007 protesting Israeli construction in Jerusalem's Old City.

Salah and dozens of others accused Israel of conducting the repair work in an attempt to damage the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. As police attempted to distance the violent rally from the construction project, Sheikh Salah approached officer Yigal Zinger and spit in his face. Salah called Zinger and other officers “racists” and “murderers.”

Salah was also arrested during riots in Jerusalem last month and is suspected, among other things, of incitement and sedition.

Full story