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Ahmad Manasra hearing on solitary confinement postponed again

Jerusalem24 – The Israeli Central Court in Beersheba postponed a ruling today on extending the solitary confinement isolation of Jerusalemite prisoner Ahmad Manasra to 16 August.

Lawyer Khaled Zabarka, who follows up on the file of the prisoner Manasra, told MAAN, “The postponement […] regarding the order to extend the isolation of the prisoner Ahmad Manasra to August 16, [happened] at the request of the occupation prosecution under the pretext of examining the possibility of transferring him from solitary confinement to the general population.”

According to his lawyer, Manasra’s health condition is deteriorating while he suffers from serious health and psychological conditions in the isolation of Ramla prison, to which he was transferred last month due to a further deterioration in his condition.

Zabarkaa added that Manasra was shown to the court through a screen, as he was transferred yesterday from Ramla Prison Hospital to Eshel Prison.

A special committee had recently issued a decision to classify his file under the “Terrorism Law”, putting an end to the attempts of the defense team to obtain a decision for his early release, or what is known as “two-thirds of the period”, as anyone charged on terrorism offences is not eligible for early release.

However, this law was only passed in December 2018, and UN experts say its retroactive application to Manasra is “illegal, disproportionate and discriminatory.”

Doctors and lawyers for Manasra have raised the possibility that he may have suffered severe brain trauma during the 2015 attack and his subsequent detention, further aggravating his mental health condition.

Following the stabbing, Manasra was hit by a car and sustained serious head injuries while an Israeli crowd jeered at him. Following his arrest, video footage, widely circulated on media, showed young, distressed Ahmad being harshly treated and severely interrogated without the presence of his parents or legal representative.

Nadeen Alshaer

Alshaer is a Palestinian journalist, a Birzeit University graduate with a B.A. in TV and Radio Broadcasting Journalism. Alshaer has 6 years of experience in journalism. She currently works as a reporter, editor and presenter/producer for PBC-Palestine TV and Jerusalem24 radio. She’s a UN and Kelley School of Business alumna.

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