Israel’s Beersheva district court ruled a parole committee must review the case of Palestinian Ahmad Manasra and listen to his lawyer’s arguments after terrorism charges brought against him were dropped, Manasra’s lawyers Khaled Zabarqa said yesterday.
No details were given as to when the committee session will be held.
Today an Israeli court dropped the "terrorism" designation of Ahmad Manasra's case, his lawyers will now file a request for his immediate release 7 years after he was first detained at the age of 13. The footage shows Ahmad as he enters the court to the loving cries of his mother pic.twitter.com/U4tZZH63Mf
— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) April 13, 2022
Manasra has been unlawfully detained for seven years by the Israeli occupation under horrific circumstances and is currently suffering from serious mental health issues. He was arrested at just 13 and interrogated without a lawyer or his parents present.
The was handed a 12-year jail term – later reduced to nine – for the attempted murder of a 20-year-old and a 12-year-old boy in an illegal Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, this is despite him not taking part in the attack. His cousin was shot dead by an Israeli in 2015, while Manasra was brutally beaten up by an Israeli mob and crushed by an Israeli driver, leaving him with head injuries. At the time of his arrest, Israeli law stated that children under the age of 14 could not be held criminally responsible.
There have been growing calls for his release, but these were rejected, however following the court’s decision to drop terrorism charges against him, the defence committee appealed against the rejection, and the court agree that his case be reviewed by the parole committee.
“Ahmad Manasra was imprisoned in conditions unbefitting of a child and alongside him, truth, justice and humanity were foreclosed as well,” the Palestine Global Mental Health Network in a statement.
It added: “We want to attest to the fact that Ahmad has been subject to continuous punishment and abuse, multiple physical, psychological and social torture.”
According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association: “The Israeli occupation has imprisoned over 12,000 Palestinian minors since 2000. The majority of them were accused of throwing stones, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison under military law.”
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