Ahmad Manasra, Palestinian jailed as a child, freed after decade in Israeli prison
After spending half of his life behind bars, Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra has been released from detention, following nearly a decade of physical and psychological abuse and mistreatment in Israeli prisons.
Manasra was 13 when he was arrested for accompanying his cousin Hassan Manasra, who allegedly stabbed two Israeli settlers near the illegal settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in occupied East Jerusalem.
He was handed a 12-year sentence in October 2015, subsequently reduced to nine years.
Following his arrest, a video was leaked to Palestinian media showing Manasra being aggressively mistreated during his interrogation by Israeli officers.
Manasra was expected to be released at Nafha prison, where his family were waiting to greet him, but he was released in the Beersheba area, in the Negev desert, far from the prison.
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Khaled Zabarqa, his lawyer, said he was left in an abandoned location, where he later met with a Palestinian Bedouin who contacted his family.
"Ahmed is now with his family," Zabarqa added.
The prolonged imprisonment, coupled with harsh prison conditions, has left Manasra with severe physical and mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, psychosis and depression.
His brutal arrest and years of subsequent torture have sparked international outrage, with numerous campaigns advocating for his release.
Violent arrest
Manasra was charged with murder despite not having participated in the attack against the Israeli settlers - a fact that the court acknowledged.
His cousin Hassan, who was 15, was shot dead by an Israeli civilian, while Manasra sustained skull fractures and internal bleeding after he was beaten by an Israeli mob and run over by an Israeli driver.
A video widely circulated online at the time showed Manasra lying on the street covered in blood, with a head injury and broken legs. Security forces had left him to bleed and kicked him down when he attempted to lift his head. A crowd of Israelis onlookers can be heard shouting abuse, spitting and yelling at him to die.
دخل طفلا وخرج شابا.. الأسير أحمد مناصرة حرا بعد ١٠ سنوات من الاعتقال في سجون الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/SVqZNMCVJ2
— وائل الدحدوح Wael Al dahdouh (@WaelDahdouh) April 10, 2025
Israeli authorities later took Manasra and the body of his cousin away without releasing any information until days after the brutal arrest.
After widespread condemnation and speculation about his killing, Israeli police released a video of Ahmed in a hospital bed being treated for his wounds.
Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights criticised the move at the time, arguing in a statement that the Israeli government’s decision to publish photographs of Ahmed was purely political.
Unlawful sentencing and interrogation
Although it was later determined that he did not participate in the stabbings of two Israelis, the district court in Jerusalem still charged Ahmad Manasra with two counts of attempted murder.
In initial testimony, not seen in the interrogation video, Ahmed denies his involvement in the attack, saying it was his cousin who stabbed the two Israelis and that he hates the sight of blood.
Israeli law, which applies to him as he is a resident under Israel municipality, said someone cannot be imprisoned until they turns 14 under Israel’s youth law. His court proceedings were thus delayed until he reached the age of 14.
The Israeli Supreme Court found that “the appellant plotted a plan with his cousin to murder innocent people on nationalistic and ideological grounds”, and would only lessen his sentencing by two and a half years.
The judges ruled at the time that “the actions of the appellant were extremely severe. However, we cannot ignore that his part in this incident was secondary to that of his cousin.”
Ahmed's interrogation sent shockwaves thorugh Palestinians, rights groups and activists.
In one clip, an interrogator is seen yelling at Ahmed, repeatedly accusing him of attempted murder. Ahmed is also seen repeatedly hitting his face, screaming that he cannot remember anything from that day, while the interrogator continues to shout back at him to remember.
Human rights groups insist that the case has been politicised and human rights norms pertaining to the treatment of minors are not being followed.
Leah Tsemel, one of Manasra’s lawyers, told Middle East Eye at the time that the behaviour of the interrogator was inappropriate.
Under international law, a child cannot be interrogated without the presence of their parents or guardian.
Amani Dayif, a Physicians for Human Rights staff member, told MEE then that the Israeli law for the protection of children criminalises the dissemination of footage that is detrimental to the child.
Solitary confinement and psychological abuse
During his time in prison, Ahmed developed a number of serious psychiatric conditions.
In late October of 2021, he was diagnosed by an independent Israeli clinical psychologist with schizophrenia, psychosis and severe depression.
According to Amnesty International, almost two weeks after his diagnosis, the Israel Prison Service placed him in solitary confinement, where he would be kept for two years. During that time, he was subjected to medical neglect and had suicidal idiation.
After visiting him in 2023, his lawyer Khaled Zabarqa said: "I saw him as a soulless human being. I tried to comfort him by telling him that there was only a little left and that we were working to secure his release. He replied, 'I am only waiting for death. I am not waiting for anything from this life.' Then, before I left, he asked, 'Are you sure that suicide is forbidden?'"
Amnesty noted that such confinement for more than 15 days is "a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment".
"The treatment of Ahmad Manasra fits a wider pattern of discrimination against Palestinian children in the criminal justice system."
Israeli authorities have only increasingly clamped down on Palestinian children in recent years.
Ahmed's case prompted an amendment in Israeli law that was passed in August 2016, where children between the ages of 12 and 14 can be held criminally responsible and tried in courts and sentenced as if they were adults.
Previously, only children aged 14 and above could be imprisoned.
The amendment enabled authorities “to imprison a minor convicted of serious crimes such as murder, attempted murder or manslaughter even if he or she is under the age of 14”.
Approximately 10,000 Palestinian children have been held in Israeli military detention over the past 20 years, according to the NGO Save the Children.
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