An Israeli military court has convicted a prominent Palestinian activist who heads a group opposing Israel’s separation wall through the West Bank. Abdallah Abu Rahma of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall faces sentencing on multiple charges including incitement. Abu Rahma’s attorney, Gaby Lasky, said the Israeli military is trying to silence nonviolent protest.

Gaby Lasky: “Regretfully, I don’t believe that there are high chances of changing this conviction, since, as I’ve said, the use of the court in this matter has been a political use, illegitimate use, and we have to remember that these are the courts of the occupier being used against the occupied.”

In a statement this week, the European Union condemned Abu Rahma’s conviction, calling him a “human rights defender” whose prosecution could be used “to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest.”