Who is Ahmed Manasra?
Ahmed is a Palestinian child who got arrested by Israeli soldiers when he was 13 years old.
On 12 October 2015 Manasra got arrested for allegedly intending to stab Israeli settlers in occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli soldiers killed his 15 years old cousin in front of his eyes.
Manasra now is 20 years old and he spent the last 7 years of his life in Israeli prisons.
Abusing a child
The Israeli occupation forces and settlers surprised Ahmed and his cousin with bullets, beating, assault, and humiliation till his cousin (Hassan) passed away.
Then they took him to the hospital, handcuffed, Many believed that he also died, but he later appeared alive.
The Israeli occupation forces deliberately leaked the video of the security interrogation session with Ahmed Manasra, All of which were violent and threatening to a 13-year-old child at the time.
Ahmed appeared in the tape crying while confronting a rude interrogator by saying “I am not sure what happened” and “I do not remember”, at a time when the interrogator kept shouting loudly in the face of an advocate in order to destabilize him and obtain free confessions from him that reinforce the occupation’s narrative.
The court decision
On November 7, 2016, the Central Court issued a 12-year effective prison sentence for Manasra for allegedly stabbing settlers.
The court imposed on him two fines of one hundred and eighty thousand shekels (one US dollar equals about 3.77 shekels).
The judge stated that “the child’s young age does not give him immunity from imposing punishment”.
A ruling that Manasra defence lawyer Tariq Barghout described as unjust, and said that judges issued an unfair ruling on a child who was treated as a “criminal”.
Today, Ahmed faces difficult and dangerous health and psychological conditions in solitary confinement in Eshel Beersheba prison.
Also Read: Israel Palestine Conflict: How The Clash Have Taken Toll on Children’s Mental Health?
On April 13, 2022, According to Ahmed’s defence lawyer, Khaled Al-Zabarqa, “the court dropped the terrorism file on the case of the prisoner Ahmed Manasra, which opens the door for consideration of his early release.”
3 days ago the Palestinian Ahmed Manasra’s court hearing has been delayed; the Israeli prison is seeking to keep him in solitary confinement.
According to the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission, the occupation authorities are detaining 160 children, out of approximately 4,600 male and female prisoners, in their prisons.
The majority of whom were subjected to psychological and physical torture, which he said are continuing their movement in documenting them to use as evidence against the occupation and its leaders who, according to the spokesman, should be tried as war criminals.
