Saturday, July 12, 2025

Detained at 13, Ahmad Manasra free after 10 years in Israel’s jails

After nearly a decade behind bars, Ahmad Manasra will be released, concluding one of the most widely condemned and controversial child imprisonment cases in recent Palestinian history. Manasra, now 23, was just 13 years old when he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on October 12, 2015.

Born on January 22, 2002, in occupied Jerusalem, Manasra was an 8th-grade student when he was violently detained. During the arrest, he was brutally attacked by settlers, run over by a vehicle, and left with severe skull fractures and internal bleeding. Harrowing videos that circulated globally showed settlers and soldiers shouting for him to “die” as he lay bleeding on the ground.

In an incident that shocked the world, Manasra was interrogated by Israeli forces without the presence of legal representation or family. A widely shared video of the interrogation revealed the psychological abuse he endured—footage that sparked outrage and calls for justice from international human rights groups, mental health professionals, and legal advocates.

Despite the Israeli court acknowledging that Ahmad did not participate in any alleged stabbing, he was charged with attempted murder. In 2016, at the age of 14, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 180,000 shekels. His sentence was later reduced to nine and a half years.

Critics of the case point to what they describe as a flagrant miscarriage of justice and a targeted attack on Palestinian childhood. Under Israeli law at the time, children under 14 could not be held criminally responsible. Authorities delayed Manasra’s sentencing until he turned 14 and later amended the law to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12, cementing what many viewed as a calculated move to legitimize the incarceration of Palestinian children.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, since late 2021, Manasra has been held in complete solitary confinement, despite repeated medical assessments warning of his deteriorating mental health. His psychological decline had already become evident by the end of 2020, but pleas for proper treatment and his release were ignored.

Ahmad’s arrest came during a wave of heightened violence and popular uprising in 2015, a time marked by a surge in child arrests, particularly in occupied Jerusalem. His cousin, 15-year-old Hasan Manasra, was shot and killed by Israeli forces during the same incident.

The story of Ahmad Manasra has become emblematic of the systemic targeting of Palestinian children by the Israeli occupation. Rights groups have documented the high rate of child detentions in Jerusalem, with many youth subjected to arbitrary arrest, beatings, night raids, and psychological trauma.

Ahmad’s release marks the end of a dark chapter, but advocates stress that it is far from a moment of justice. “His case should never have existed in the first place,” said one local human rights lawyer. “Ahmad’s suffering represents the pain of an entire generation growing up under occupation.”

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