Israel refuses early release of prisoner Ahmad Manasra

Palestinian Ahmad Manasra is seen during his hearing in Be’er Sheva, Israel on April 13, 2022 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

The parole board in Israel’s Ramla Prison yesterday rejected the appeal to free Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra at a time when his mental health is deteriorating.

Member of Manasra’s defence team, lawyer Khaled Zabarqa, said the parole board refused to discuss Manasra’s appeal for early release.

The appeal was submitted by his defence team due to the serious deterioration in his physical and mental health.

According to Zabarqa, the parole board said that Manasra’s case was classified under the “terrorism law.”

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]

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 violently 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.

He was diagnosed with mental health issues due to months of brutal interrogation, torture and solitary confinement in Israeli detention centres.

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