Israel transfers Ahmad Manasra to hospital after mental health deterioration

The Israel Prison Service on Monday transferred detained Palestinian minor Ahmad Manasra to Ramle Prison Hospital after his mental health deteriorated, his defence team disclosed.

“The Israeli prosecution informed us that the Israeli Prison Service transferred the child prisoner Ahmad Manasra last night to Ramle Prison Hospital due to his deteriorating mental health condition, without disclosing further details,” Ahmad’s lawyer Khaled Zabarka announced in a short statement.

Zabarka explained that the prison doctor had issued an order to transfer Ahmad to the prison hospital for ten days.

In February, Ahmad’s family said he had a psychological disorder due to isolation and harsh prison conditions because of being detained since 2015.

The family stressed that Ahmad requires a proper and professional diagnosis, treatment with appropriate medications and an end to his isolation.

The family shared that he was violently beaten when he was detained in 2015 at 13, resulting in a fractured skull.

READ: Israel court to look into extension of Manasra’s solitary confinement

A psychiatrist eventually visited Ahmad and found that he has a psychological disorder due to the violence, isolation and oppression he is subjected to in Israeli prisons.

The psychiatrist reiterated that his isolation in a narrow cell and being prevented from mixing with other prisoners was a major contributor to his illness and that he also needed access to outside space.

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.

He 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.

Last month, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) filed a request to the Beersheba District Court requesting the extension of his solitary confinement.

Ahmad Manasra is a Palestinian youth who was imprisoned 7 years ago, at the age of 13, by the occupation forces and has since been suffering from intense psychological torture including solitary confinement – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]