PA security forces detained DJ Sama Abdul Hadi and several others at the party on Saturday in Nabi Musa, the site of Moses’ alleged burial, located in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Videos of the event were posted to social media, sparking anger among local Palestinians. These images, along with reports of revelers drinking and using drugs in the sacred site, prompted hundreds of people to descend on the party to break it up. Many were also angry with the PA for giving its consent.
PA 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 she is accused of violating Article 275 of the Palestinian Penal Code, which criminalizes the “desecration” of sacred sites or symbols with the intent of a religion or group. to offend.
“Does she contradict the article so far? All I can tell you is, I don’t see how,” said Mashal. But the investigation is not over yet. We hope it will be completed in a few days. ‘
The DJ’s father, Saad Abdul Hadi, told CNN that he was very disturbed by his daughter’s detention and rejected claims that she had desecrated a holy site, saying the party was in a different part of the compound occurred.
“It is not true that people were drunk or used drugs,” he said. “It is also not true that she played techno music in the mosque – in fact, nobody entered the mosque. It was all held in the bazaar, where visitors came to shop and spend the night in the guesthouse.”
Saad Abdul Hadi said his daughter was selected by the PA to hide her embarrassment about the public reaction to the party.
“It seems the Palestinian Authority didn’t know how to control the 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 manufacturing company to perform in a number of Palestinian historical sites and had been authorized by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which is responsible for the bazaar in Nabi Musa, in contrast to the site’s mosque managed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
CNN has received a letter from the tourism ministry authorizing DJ Sama and the production company to film in Nabi Musa as long as they “adhere to necessary security measures” and “respect the religious and cultural significance and privacy of the site” .
Abdul Hadi has also been charged with violating the Covid-19 procedures, according to her lawyer.
CNN has contacted the Ministry of Tourism for comment. PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh is also the minister for religious affairs.
But prominent religious figures were quick to denounce the techno party, as an indication of how tough the episode has gotten.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the PA Chief Justice and adviser to the president for religious affairs and Islamic relations, said in a tweet: “I feel disgusted and angry about what happened in Nabi Musa Mosque … and I still does not know who is responsible for this sin, but the one responsible must receive a horrifying punishment commensurate with the atrocity of what happened, because the mosque is the house of God, and its 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, stated that it was his ministry responsible for the mosque, yet no permission had been given to hold an event there.
“The act that was committed was unacceptable and was beyond all our religious principles,” added Abu-Alrub. “We at Awqaf Ministry will not remain silent and will follow up on the investigation.”
DJ Sama is one of the most popular DJs in the region and one of the first Palestinian women to become widely known in the electronic music community.
Her lawyer urged people to look at the facts. If she hadn’t gotten a permit, the event wouldn’t have happened. Period, ”said Mashal. So who is responsible for not thinking about what the response would be? I do not 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.