logo
Israel releases Ahmad Manasra after 9 years in prison

Israel releases Ahmad Manasra after 9 years in prison

Nahar Net10-04-2025

by Naharnet Newsdesk 6 hours
Israel on Thursday released a Palestinian who took part in an attack when he was 13 and developed schizophrenia in prison as requests for early release were denied.
Israel says Ahmad Manasra is a terrorist who tried to kill Jews his own age. Palestinians accuse Israel of subjecting a child to harsh incarceration that led to serious and potentially permanent mental illness. His lawyer, Khaled Zabarqa, said he was released after completing his nine-and-a-half-year sentence.
In 2015, Manasra, then 13, and his 15-year-old cousin rampaged through a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem with knives. His cousin, Hassan, critically wounded a 13-year-old Israeli boy who was leaving a candy store and stabbed an Israeli man before being shot dead by police.
Ahmad was run over by a car, beaten and taunted by Israeli passers-by. A graphic video of Ahmad lying in the street, bleeding from the head while Israelis taunted him, garnered millions of views.
He was later convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. Doctors said he developed schizophrenia in solitary confinement and tried to harm himself and others.
Appeals to Israel's Supreme Court for his early release were repeatedly denied. The courts ruled that he was ineligible, regardless of age or mental condition, because he was convicted of terrorism.
Zarbarqa said he did not have immediate information about Manasra's condition after his release, but said he was with his parents.
"We know in jail he's been very ill. We're waiting to know his health situation now," Zabarqa said.
Authorities first moved Manasra to isolation in November 2021, following a scuffle with another inmate. In interviews the following year, his family and lawyers said he was locked in a small cell for 23 hours a day and suffered from paranoia and delusions that kept him from sleeping. His lawyer said Manasra had tried to slit his wrists.
His family said he was transferred to the psychiatric wing of another prison every few months, where doctors gave him injections to stabilize him. A physician who was allowed to visit him when he was 18 diagnosed him with schizophrenia and attributed it to the toll of being in prison, warning that continued incarceration could lead to permanent disability.
The Prisons Authority on Thursday declined to comment on the specific conditions under which he had been held, saying all prisoners are held in accordance with Israeli and international law and that any allegations of abuse are investigated.
Rights groups say conditions inside Israeli prisons have become far more harsh since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian prisoners released during a recent ceasefire often appeared gaunt and ill, and many went straight to local hospitals for treatment.
The Israeli ministry in charge of prisons has boasted that it has reduced the conditions of security prisoners to the bare minimum required by Israeli law.
A teenager from the occupied West Bank who was held in an Israeli prison for six months without being charged died last month after collapsing in unclear circumstances, becoming the first Palestinian under 18 to die in Israeli detention.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hezbollah Denounces Israeli Interception of 'Madleen' Aid Ship: Statement
Hezbollah Denounces Israeli Interception of 'Madleen' Aid Ship: Statement

Al Manar

time3 hours ago

  • Al Manar

Hezbollah Denounces Israeli Interception of 'Madleen' Aid Ship: Statement

Hezbollah issued on Monday a statement to condemn the crime of piracy committed by the Zionist enemy through seizing 'Madleen' Aid Ship in the international waters, arresting international activists, and preventing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid on board into the besieged Gaza Strip. This is a flagrant violation of international laws, norms, and humanitarian values, the statement maintained. The enemy's interception of the ship and the detention of its civilian crew as well as the free activists on board reflect the moral and political bankruptcy of this temporary entity and its inability to break the will of the people of Gaza and their resistance, according to Hezbollah statement. Hezbollah expressed its full solidarity with the brave, free people on board the ship, calling on the international community and human rights and humanitarian institutions to condemn this heinous crime, and to take urgent and immediate action to ensure the release of the kidnapped, hold the occupation entity accountable for its ongoing aggression, force it to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and lift the siege on the Strip. Israeli occupation forces attacked a humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza as the vessel approached the coastal waters of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israeli Forces Seize Gaza Aid Boat Carrying Greta Thunberg
Israeli Forces Seize Gaza Aid Boat Carrying Greta Thunberg

MTV Lebanon

time9 hours ago

  • MTV Lebanon

Israeli Forces Seize Gaza Aid Boat Carrying Greta Thunberg

Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday and the boat with its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg, is now heading to a port in Israel. The British-flagged yacht, Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there. However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control. "The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on X. All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over." Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. "The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.," Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air. The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. "The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas. Katz said he had instructed that upon the boat's arrival at Ashdod port, the activists will be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war. Hamas condemned the seizure of the boat as "state terrorism" and said it salutes its activists. Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 to stop weapons from reaching the militant group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the West. The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began when Hamas-led militants rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza and left its more than 2 million population largely displaced and at risk of famine, according to the United Nations. The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday, urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade. "Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on X.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store