23-year-old Ahmed Manasra, who was arrested and convicted in Israel for almost a decade, has been released and reunited with his family.
(The Post News)– Israel has freed a Palestinian prisoner who was reportedly imprisoned at the age of 13 and spent almost ten years behind bars. 23-year-old Ahmed Manasra has become an example of the increased Israeli-Palestinian conflict that started in 2015. According to Manasra’s lawyer, Khaled Zabarqa, his client was released after completing his sentence.
Zabarqa asserted that the Israeli authorities imposed constraints on the family, including welcome celebration for Manasra or engaging with the media. CNN reported that Manasra’s lawyer notified them that he had been reunited with his family.
Manasra and his cousin, Hassan (15), were captured on a CCTV footage with large kitchen knives in a Jewish region in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. While Hassan injured an Israeli man and 13-year-old boy before being shot dead by the police, Manasra was hit by a car.
His case gained international attention after a video surfaced showing a mob hurling abuse at him after the event while he lay motionless, seriously injured, and crying out. According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, another video shows Israeli officials questioning Manasra while he is scared and defenseless.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society stated that in 2016, Manasra received a 12-year prison sentence for attempted murder, despite Israeli courts acknowledging that he was not involved in the stabbings. Meanwhile, in 2017, he appealed the court’s decision and his sentence was reduced to 9 and a half years.
Over the years, international groups have frequently urged Israeli authorities to free him, citing worries about his treatment and extended periods in solitary confinement, as well as mental health issues and a schizophrenia diagnosis. Human rights organisations have also stepped in, with Amnesty International noting that Manasra was subjected to cruel treatment, such as spending over two years in solitary confinement that contributed to his acute mental condition.
Manasra’s legal representation further underlined how his imprisonment has damaged his health, stating that his physical and medical state is quite challenging as he suffers from head traumas and physiological mental health resulting from solitary confinement and being exposed to severe interrogation as a child.
Many of those freed after the recent truce in Gaza seemed weak and unwell, and others needed immediate hospitalisation. Additionally, they have reported beatings, terrible overcrowding, inadequate medical attention, scabies epidemics, and unsanitary conditions.
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