Israel urged to release Ahmed Manasra as nine-year sentence nears end

Activists and rights groups are ramping up pressure on Israel to release a prominent Palestinian prisoner as his sentence approaches its end.

Ahmed Manasra was arrested and put behind bars at age 13 after he was charged with allegedly stabbing and wounding two Israelis near the Pisgat Zeev settlement in occupied east Jerusalem in 2015.

As he was considered underage under Israel’s Youth Law at the time, court proceedings were postponed until he reached age 14.

Manasra’s subsequent arrest garnered worldwide attention at the time due to video footage showing him being interrogated by three Israeli men who shouted and threatened him, leaving him looking visibly distressed.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, despite being found by courts not to have participated in stabbings. The Supreme Court later reduced the sentence to nine and a half years in August 2017.

Now, as his sentence nears its end, many Palestinian groups and activists have called on Israel to ensure he is freed and returned to his family.

Abdullah Zaghari, a spokesperson for the Palestine Prisoners’ Club, confirmed to The New Arab on Wednesday that Manasra will be released next Friday.

"His sentence ends and he should be released on Friday, so there is no reason for him to remain behind bars," he said.

"Previously, when there were calls for his release, it was because his lawyer was demanding he is freed earlier due to his health conditions. This is because of everything he faced, and his deteriorating mental health due to him being kept in solitary confinement," he said.

"The military court previously refused to free him earlier due to the state of his health, so he remained imprisoned until he completed his sentence. He has now completed the full term so he must be released," he added.

Urging for his release

Online, Palestinian groups and individuals urged for his prompt release and highlighted how badly he was treated in Israeli detention.

"Do you remember him? Jerusalemite prisoner Ahmad Manasra was arrested by the occupation as a child and will be released next Friday as a 23-year-old man. He carries in his memory an unforgettable pain. Here’s his story," one post read.

"Ahmed Manasra…the child whose skull was fractured, whose childhood was stolen, who was isolated from the world for years. He was arrested at the age of 13, and his cousin was martyred before his eyes. Beaten, tortured, isolated and denied medical treatment. He spent nine and a half years in the darkness of prison cells, growing up with shackles on his hand," another wrote.

Others shared side-by-side images of him when he was younger to a photo of him in 2023.

"Good news for a change: Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian boy who has now become a young man in Israeli prisons, will reportedly be freed this Friday," a post on X read.

Under Israeli detention, Mansara was diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, and severe depression.

According to Amnesty International, psychiatrists said his incarceration put his health in acute danger, however despite this, the Israeli Prison Service continued to renew his solitary confinement.

Manasra’s 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, was shot dead at the scene of the stabbings in 2015, and Ahmad sustained serious head injuries when he was hit by a car.