The Early Release Committee of the Israeli occupation prisons administration designated the case of Jerusalemite prisoner Ahmed Manasra – who was arrested in 2015 at the age of 13 – as a “terrorism law”, the Palestinian News Agency reported.
The defense team of the prisoner, Manasra, said that this decision is wrong from the legal and constitutional standpoints, and constitutes a clear violation of the legal and constitutional foundations of the local and international legal system, especially the legal system related to minors.
The head of the Prisoner Club, Qaddoura Fares, said in a statement, “This decision is a decision to kill him. His health and psychological condition have reached a very dangerous stage.”
Fares called on all Palestinian and international levels to find a way other than the “legal” path to save Ahmed before it is too late, especially since “it has become clear that we have no hope from this path.”
On Thursday, June 23, Lawyer Khaled Zabarka said in a press conference that a new decision for Ahmed Manasra will be set on June 28, based on the urgent request made by the defense staff, demanding his immediate release.
On Sunday, June 19, Israel’s Ramleh Magistrate’s Court reviewed Manasra’s eligibility for early release under Israel’s Parole Law of 2001 but did not issue a decision despite the prisoner’s harsh health and psychological condition.
Saleh Manasra, Ahmad’s father, said that his son did not attend the session on Sunday because of his poor condition, as he is being held in the Ramleh prison clinic.
In mid-June, the occupation prison authorities transferred Manasra to Ramleh Prison Hospital, after his psychological condition worsened.
On June 16, Lawyer Zabarka had confirmed, during his visit to the prisoner Manasra that there were traces of wounds along his left arm up to the wrist, as well as traces of wounds on his right arm.
During this meeting, Ahmed did not communicate visually or verbally with Zabarka, and he seemed to show signs of illness and general exhaustion.
The defense team, submitted an urgent request to the occupation prisons authority, for the immediate release of the prisoner, Manasra, due to the deterioration of his psychological and health condition.
Israeli forces arrested Ahmed Manasra in 2015 from the occupied city of Jerusalem, for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack. He was 13-year-old, and he is currently 20-year-old, and the Israeli soldiers shot him and his cousin Hassan, who was martyred on the day of his arrest.
At the time, videos were published of harsh scenes of him lying on the ground screaming and injured. The occupation soldiers also tried to pin him to the ground and abuse him. His case later turned into a global one.
Recently, a campaign was launched to demand the immediate release of the prisoner Manasra under the hashtag #FreeAhmadManasra.
It is noteworthy that the prisoner Ahmed Manasra was born on January 22, 2002, in the occupied city of Jerusalem. He is one of a family of 10 members. He has two brothers and is the eldest male in his family, in addition to 5 sisters.
Before his arrest in 2015, he was a student in the eighth grade at the New Generation School in Jerusalem, and he was 13 years old at the time.
Ahmed’s mother had called on the Israeli authorities to release him in a video clip that was widely circulated on Arab platforms.
In the video, the mother said: “My son wants me, he clings to the glass (during the visit), and I tell him I wish I could take you out of the glass. I hugged him in the air as he cried, and the soldiers provoked us to the maximum, yelling at us to leave his father and I.”
