Israel extends detention for Palestinian clown

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel has extended the detention without trial of Palestinian clown Mohammad Abu Sakha for another six months, his circus school said on Monday.

Abu Sakha, 24, was arrested on December 14 in the occupied West Bank, and held since January in administrative detention, the controversial measure under which Israel holds suspects without trial for periods of six months, renewable indefinitely.

The Shin Bet Israeli internal security agency confirmed his detention had been extended to December.

Rights group Amnesty International called Abu Sakha's detention "yet another shameful example of the Israeli authorities' abusive use of administrative detention".

Shin Bet has accused Abu Sakha of being an active member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel because of its armed wing.