Jerusalem24– The Beersheba District Court yesterday postponed by four weeks a decision on extending the solitary confinement of Ahmad Manasra while it considers the effect of solitary confinement on his mental health.
Manasra will remain in solitary confinement until the next hearing on 15 June.
21-year-old Manasra was arrested as a 13-year-old boy in 2015 for carrying out a stabbing attack in which two Israelis were injured. His 15-year-old cousin Hassan Manasra was shot and killed by Israeli police during the same attack. Ahmad Manasra was sentenced in 2016 to 12 years in prison, later reduced to nine and a half years.
Lawyer Khaled Zabarkah, the head of Manasra’s defense team, said that his psychological situation and both his mental and physical health are deteriorating and that prolonging solitary confinement only exposes him to further danger.
A movement advocating for the release of Manasra has been gaining traction as concerns grow for his mental wellbeing. Multiple campaigns including a social media campaign under the hashtag #freeAhmadManasra still refer to him as a “child-prisoner”, asserting that his detention in Israeli prisons at a young age has not allowed him to follow a normal path of development into adulthood.
