AP security forces arrested DJ Sama Abdul Hadi and several others at the party on Saturday in Nabi Musa, the place where Moses is believed to be buried, which is in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Videos were posted on the event’s social media, generating anger among local Palestinians. This footage, along with reports of partygoers drinking and using drugs in the holy place, prompted hundreds of people to attend the party to separate it. Many were also angry at the PA for allowing it to proceed.
AP Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said an investigation was underway and that those responsible for the event would be brought to justice.
Hadi Mashal, a lawyer representing Abdul Hadi, told CNN that he is being accused of violating Article 275 of the Palestinian penal code, which criminalizes the “desecration” of sacred sites or symbols committed with the intention of insulting a specific religion or group.
“Is she violating the article so far? All I can say 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 upset by his daughter’s detention and dismissed claims that she desecrated a sacred place, saying the party took place elsewhere in the complex.
“It is not true that people were drunk or using drugs,” he said. “It is also not true that she played techno music at the mosque – in fact, no one entered the mosque. Everything happened at the bazaar, where visitors came to shop and stay at the guesthouse.”
Saad Abdul Hadi said his daughter was being chosen by the AP to hide her embarrassment at the public reaction to the party.
“It seems that the Palestinian Authority did not know how to control street rage, so they used Sama as a scapegoat for something that the streets saw as a mistake.”
Saad Abdul Hadi added that his daughter was hired by a Paris-based production company to perform at various Palestinian historic sites and received permission from the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, responsible for the Nabi Musa bazaar, as opposed to the local mosque, which is administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
CNN obtained a letter from the Ministry of Tourism, granting DJ Sama and the producer permission to film on Nabi Musa, as long as they “follow the necessary security measures” and “respect the religious and cultural significance of the place and privacy”.
Abdul Hadi was also accused of violating Covid-19 procedures, according to his lawyer.
CNN contacted the Ministry of Tourism for comment. AP Prime Minister Shtayyeh is also a minister for religious affairs.
But prominent religious figures were quick to denounce the techno party, in an indication of how charged the episode became.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the AP’s supreme judge and adviser to its president for religious affairs 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 know who it is the one responsible for this sin, but whoever is responsible must receive a dissuasive penalty proportional to 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 NAS Radio, Hussam Abu-Alrub, the deputy minister of religious affairs, said it was his ministry that was responsible for the mosque and even then, permission was not granted to hold any event inside it.
“The act that was committed was unacceptable and outside all of our religious principles,” added Abu-Alrub. “We at the Ministry of Awqaf will not be quiet and will continue the investigation.”
DJ Sama is one of the most popular DJs in the region, and one of the first Palestinian women to gain prominence in the electronic music community.
His lawyer urged people to examine the facts. “If she didn’t have a license, the event wouldn’t have happened. Period,” said Mashal. “So who’s responsible for not thinking about 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.