Ahmad Manasra solitary confinement hearing postponed indefinitely

Jerusalem24 – Ahmad Manasra’s court hearing to consider a prison request to extend his solitary confinement has been postponed indefinitely, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society told Jerusalem24.
The court hearing was scheduled for 15 June and postponed until 6 July. Manasra was transferred to Al-Ramleh Prison Hospital Monday during the night due to “the deterioration of his mental health.”
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.
A court hearing was originally scheduled on 15 May to consider a prison request to extend Manasra’s detention in solitary confinement by six months, but was postponed until 15 June while the court considered the effect of solitary confinement on his mental health.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture has stated that “solitary confinement can, in certain circumstances, amount to inhuman and degrading treatment; in any event, all forms of solitary confinement should be as short as possible.”
Milena Ansari, International Advocacy Officer at Addameer, told Jerusalem24 in an interview in May that in the case of Manasra, torture and ill-treatment were compounded by deliberate medical neglect as well as the continuation of his arrest.