Israel/OPT: Palestinian’s Solitary Confinement Renewed
Ahmad Manasra is held in Eshel Prison near Beersheba, in southern Israel.
Ahmad Manasra was 13 years old when he was arrested in 2015 in relation to the stabbing and injury of two people in Pisgat Zeev, an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. At the time, Israel’s Youth Law did not allow imprisonment under the age of 14, and the court proceedings were delayed until he had reached 14 years of age. A month after Ahmad Manasra’s arrest in November 2015, footage of his interrogation was made public. The 10-minute video, reviewed by Amnesty International, shows him with a bandaged head from an injury at the time of his arrest, being interrogated by three men, without the presence of his lawyer or parent, in violation of international standards. He appears increasingly distressed as his interrogators continue to shout at him, directing insults and threats. This video is evidence of several violations of Ahmad Manasra’s rights as a child and as a detainee. To Amnesty International’s knowledge, there have been no investigations into the conduct of police and security officers. Despite being found by the courts not to have participated in the stabbings, he was convicted of attempted murder in 2016 and sentenced to 12 years in prison, which the Supreme Court reduced to nine and a half years in August 2017.
Ahmad Manasra suffers from serious mental health conditions. On 24 October 2021, he was diagnosed by an independent Israeli clinical psychologist with serious psychiatric conditions – schizophrenia, psychosis, and severe depression – that he developed since his detention. Approximately ten days after that diagnosis, the Israel Prison Service placed him in solitary confinement, which continues until today. Psychiatrists said that his incarceration, and especially his solitary confinement since early November 2021, continues to put his health in acute danger. Nevertheless, on 17 April 2022, the Israel Prison Service renewed his solitary confinement for a further six months, until 16 October 2022, and requested another extension after that date. On 13 June 2022, the prison doctor rushed Ahmad Manasra to the prison hospital following life-threatening deterioration in his mental health. He was discharged from prison hospital on 19 July 2022 and put straight back in solitary confinement. Repeated risks to his life occurred in October and in November 2022, requiring hospitalizations. Any solitary confinement for more than 15 days is a violation of the absolute prohibition on torture.
Ahmad Manasra has now served more than seven years of his 9-and-a-half-year sentence, which qualifies him to be considered for release on parole according to Israeli law. Court hearings in summer 2022 rejected his appeals to be removed from solitary confinement and to be eligible for release on parole. On 1 September 2022, the District Court in Beersheba heard Ahmad Manasra’s another appeal for early release, on the grounds of medical necessity. This appeal too was rejected. The Supreme Court is the court of final appeal.
The treatment of Ahmad Manasra fits a wider pattern of discrimination against Palestinian children in the criminal justice system. According to Amnesty International’s records, some 170 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as of June 2022 were arrested when they were children, and twelve children are currently held as administrative detainees. In many of the cases, children were denied fair trials in line with international standards and furthermore were discriminated against on racial grounds as Palestinians. Evidence collected by Amnesty International, and by human rights organizations B’Tselem, HaMoked and Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), shows Israeli authorities implement the law in a discriminatory manner by denying Palestinian children in East Jerusalem basic rights to a fair trial and to be protected from torture and other ill-treatment. This denial of fair trial rights to Palestinian children and their associated ill-treatment contributes to and forms part of the cruel system of oppression and domination, legally amounting to apartheid, perpetrated by Israel against all Palestinians. A report released by DCIP in April 2016 found three out of four Palestinian children endured some form of physical violence following arrest, and 97 per cent of children had no parent present during interrogation, or access to legal counsel.