The torture and imprisonment of Ahmad Manasrah - Zionist vengeance against a child

Israel Waited Until Palestinian child turned 14 in order to impose a 12 year prison sentence

Only in Israel could the legal system wait a year so that a 13 year old child officially can turn 14 and become old enough to receive a long prison sentence.  Indeed it would be unheard of in any other country that calls itself civilised.  It is also unheard of in Israel for it to happen to a Jewish child.

However Ahmad Manasrah is not Jewish but a Palestinian.  The law was changed specifically to allow him to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment.  He was found guilty of participating in the stabbing of an Israeli.  The reasons for his actions are not hard to find.  He lives under a brutal occupation.  His cousin was shot dead.  He himself is lucky to be alive because he was left bleeding on a sidewalk.  Medical help for him was prevented initially by Israeli police.  He was subject to savage taunts of ‘let him die’ by Israeli passers by, as the above video shows in all its graphic horror.

During what was called the 'knife intifada' Uri Rezken, a Jewish supermarket worker was stabbed by another Jew, Shlomo Pinto, whilst stacking shelves.  He had been mistaken for an Arab. Contrast his treatment by the judicial system.  Although he was charged with attempted murder it is certain that he didn't receive 12 years imprisonment.  He wasn't subject to the ordeal of a 13 year old Palestinian child.

Instead the Guardian reports that 'He was granted anonymity by a magistrates’ court in Haifa since he may now become a target of a vigilante attack. The court also agreed to his lawyer’s request for a psychological examination to see if he was fit to stand trial.'

Palestinians are not seen as human beings so the question of whether they are fit to stand trial does not arise.  Nor was Ahmad given anonymity, again for the same racist reasons.

Palestinian lawyer Jamil Saadeh noted upon Ahmad’s conviction in May that “the occupation deliberately kept the child Ahmad Manasrah imprisoned inside a reform center until he reached the legal age for full sentencing under Israeli law, which is the age of 14 years…The court did not take into account what he suffered from the moment of his detention, being wounded, assaulted and cursed, treated inside the hospital as a threat, and screamed at during interrogation by the officers, all of which is documented on video and condemns the occupation.”

Ahmad, 14, was accused of participating in a stabbing operation against Israeli settlers in the east Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev last year, when he was 13 years old. Ahmad was with his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan Manasrah, at the time, on 12 October 2015. Hassan was shot by settlers and killed on the street, while Ahmad was run over by settlers and seriously injured. Video of settlers screaming and cursing at the bleeding Ahmad and yelling that he should die was widely circulated via social media. Two settlers were injured in the incident, while Ahmad was critically injured and Hassan’s life was taken. Hassan is one of 57 Palestinian children who have been killed by Israeli forces since 5 October 2015.

Manasrah was convicted in Israeli courts in May and sentenced today to 12 years imprisonment. In the Israeli courts in “security” cases, Palestinian youth do not receive reduced sentencing despite their juvenile ages. Instead, for every conviction on any charge that carries a maximum sentence of greater than six months, children 14 and up are sentenced identically to adults over 18. Such charges include throwing stones, membership in a prohibited organization or incitement for social media postings. Palestinian children are also held without charge or trial under administrative detention.
The pursuit of extremely lengthy sentences against Palestinian children is a growing trend in Israeli military and other courts, as illustrated by the cases of Muawiya Alqam, 14, sentenced to six and one-half years and the pending case of Nurhan Awad, 17, against whom a 15-year sentence is sought. Nurhan’s case is strikingly similar to Ahmad’s; she was with her cousin, Hadeel, who was shot and killed by Israeli settlers while Nurhan was severely injured.

Ahmad’s interrogation was also videotaped, where he was pressured and shouted at by multiple interrogators as he stated he did not remember the incident. Ahmad is one of nearly 400 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons. Palestinian children are routinely subject to torture and abuse under interrogation, solitary confinement during interrogation, beating and kicking by occupation military personnel, threats of sexual assault and other forms of abuse, reports Defence for Children International Palestine.They are also routinely interrogated harshly without access to a parent or a lawyer.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns the sentencing of Ahmad Manasrah and demands the immediate release of Ahmad and all imprisoned Palestinian children. We further call for international action to compel the Israeli state to respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and end international military aid and assistance that funds the imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children. The imprisonment, oppression, and killing of Palestinian children like Ahmad and Hassan Manasrah by the Israeli occupation is part and parcel of the Israeli colonial project in Palestine, and the only true freedom for Palestinian children will be achieved through the freedom of the Palestinian people and Palestinian land.

Also see this powerful article in Ha'aretz by Amira Hass, one of the few decent journalists in Israel.

How to Make Revenge Even Sweeter

Why does Israel need to imprison for 12 years a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who did not injure anyone?

Amira Hass Nov 16, 2016 4:51 AM

A., the teen who along with his cousin seriously wounded two in Pisgat Ze'ev, at his remand hearing, November 11, 2016.Emil Salman

 The childish expression on his face, which the sadness has turned adult, is known to every Palestinian. In the Israeli media, only the first letter of his name, A., is allowed to be published. That, and the fact that his trial was held behind closed doors was the sum total of proper treatment of a boy who was 13 years and 9 months old when he allegedly committed the crimes of which he was convicted.

With all the rest – his arrest after the mob attack against him and his injury, the brutal interrogation, the extreme indictment, the verdict and the sentence – the legal system treated him precisely in the spirit the Israeli public demands: vengeance, vengeance, vengeance.

The judges, Yoram Noam, Rivka Friedman-Feldman and Moshe Bar-Am, convicted him of two attempted murders, although he did not stab anyone. From the beginning A. told his interrogators and the judges that he and his cousin, Hassan Manasra, went out about a year ago to Pisgat Ze’ev to scare Jews with knives they were holding (because of how the Israeli regime harms the Palestinians), maybe to injure someone, but not to murder anyone. He was convicted because 15-year-old Manasra (the Border Police team could have arrested him but they executed him, as is the fashion around here) stabbed a young man and a boy.

The judges did not attribute importance to A.’s testimony that from the start he and Manasra had decided not to hurt women, children or old people, they intentionally did not try to hurt an old man whom they came across on their way. The judges discounted A.’s words, that he tried to stop his cousin from hurting the boy. The judges belittled the fact that A. could have immediately confessed to attempted murder so he would be sentenced before he reached 14 (and then would not be sent to prison). He simply did not agree to admit to something that he did not intend to do.

The parole officer service, who praised A.’s rehabilitation process, recommended to the court to make do with parole and keeping him in a closed residential facility until the age of 18. But the judges imposed a sentence of 12 years in prison on the 14-year-old boy who had not injured anyone. Neither did they heed the request to at least place A. in a closed residential facility until the age of 18.

“Today!” Judge Noam decreed on the day of sentencing last week. The boy must be taken immediately to prison (Megiddo). Vengeance is sweet and to sweeten it more the judges ordered the minor to pay compensation of 180,000 shekels ($46,870) to the injured parties. Let the family go completely broke, why not?

The judges could have taken into consideration other verdicts, which state that it is impossible to examine the acts of children by the same criteria as those of adults. They could have drawn inspiration from judges who imposed sentences of 24 months and 54 months, respectively, in a closed residential facility on two minors who murdered an old man who refused to give them a cigarette. But Noam and his colleagues preferred to see the “wave of terror” and “nationalistic background,” not the boy.

If they had seen the boy, they would have ruled thus:

“Before us is another boy, who from the moment of his birth in Jerusalem has lived the intentional, methodical discrimination in favor of Jewish children his age: in housing, schooling, employment opportunities, infrastructure, freedom of movement and choice, the right to a collective identity. Before us is another boy who has, unfortunately, on a daily basis, experienced police brutality, the contempt of the municipality and the evil of the system. Another boy who is confused by the weakness of the adults in the face of all this evil, and the childish tendency to imitate pushed him into a foolish and dangerous act, which his parents opposed, and that he himself regrets today. We will send him to a closed residential facility for a few years, to think, understand and be rehabilitated.

“The change of general circumstances does not depend solely on us, but it has already been proven that executions, house demolitions and disproportionate prison sentences and fines are not deterrents. On the contrary. They convey a message to other Palestinians, that the Jews hate and persecute and oppress and expel them only because they are Palestinians.”

Child Abuse – An Israeli Speciality

There is no need to say anything other than that this film says everything you need to know about Israeli racism.  The idea that such behaviour would be tolerated if it was a Jewish child is too absurd even to contemplate.  The Jew who stabbed another Jew by mistake, he meant to stab an Arab, was granted anonymity by the court and remanded for psychological reports.  Palestinians don’t get psychological reports, just beatings and torture.

Tony Greenstein

Rights Expert: Harsh interrogation of 13-year-old Palestinian boy ‘may amount to torture’

Megan Hanna on November 13, 2015

Still of film showing Amhad Manasra's interrogation leaked by Ma'an (Source: Twitter)

A controversial video was leaked to Palestinian media on November 8th, revealing an aggressive Israeli security interrogation of 13-year old Ahmad Manasra, who was indicted on October 30th by Israel’s Jerusalem District Court for attempting to murder two Israelis near the Pisgat Zeev settlement in East Jerusalem.

The 10-minute video depicts an Israeli interrogator verbally abusing and shouting curses at the visibly distressed boy, rigorously questioning his motives and accusing him of murder.  The video then appears to show the young teen confessing to the crime under considerable duress.

Since the footage has gone viral there has been a strong public outrage, with rights-based groups condemning what appears to be a violation of the rights afforded to the treatment of minors in custody.

Brad Parker, attorney and international advocacy officer at Defence for Children – Palestine, spoke to Mondoweiss about the legal implications of the film. “The circumstances depicted in the video present a situation that may amount to torture” he explained. “When determining if certain acts constitute torture, the child’s age must be taken into account. Israeli interrogators are seen relying on verbal abuse, intimidation and threats to apparently inflict mental suffering for the purpose of obtaining a confession.”

Parker stated that the video provides evidence of a violation of international juvenile standards as dictated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel signed in 1991. According to Parker, “[the Convention] prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This prohibition is absolute, yet, ill treatment and torture of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli military and police is widespread and systematic.”

Alongside these fundamental rights which appear to have been neglected, international law states that a child cannot be interrogated without the presence of his parents or guardian. Tareq Barghouth, one of Manasra’s lawyers, claims that the boy has not been allowed contact with his family since the attack, and has been subjected to psychological abuse from the security forces. “They threatened that they will kill him, demolish his house, and imprison him,” Barghouth said. “They spit on him. One of the officials opened his Skype with his girlfriend, and she also began swearing at him over Skype.”

Another contentious aspect of Manasra’s treatment since arrest was the decision by the Israeli government to publicly release his photograph. The Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights denounced the move as inherently political saying, “the fact that it is a photo of a minor in custody who was photographed without his parents’ permission” is a violation of juvenile law and privacy laws… Even more disturbing, is that reportedly the instructions [to publish the photo] came directly from the office of the Health Minister [Yaakov Litzman] and that the picture itself was distributed by the Prime Minister’s Office.”

“What is happening to me?”

In the video of the interrogation, an officer sits behind a desk shouting at the boy in Arabic, “Why did you stab him? Why did you stab him?”

An anguished Manasra pleads and repeatedly hits his head with his hands, saying that he cannot remember and begs with the interrogator to believe him, saying “I don’t remember, not one thing. For God’s sake believe me! I woke up the next day at four. There was a blow to my head. I don’t remember! What is happening to me?”

Between the barrage of shouting and curses, Manasra can be heard saying “maybe I am going crazy”, and asks the officer to “take me to the doctor to check me”, all the while screaming and hitting his face with his hands.

The officer continuously yells “liar!”, and tells Manasra to “shut up”, saying that he is accused of killing “two Jews” and that he supported “the enemy in time of war”.  The boy is clearly confused by the statement, and asks “what war? What do I have to do with a war”?

The interrogator proceeds to violently yell at Manasra, who eventually says, “everything you say is true, according to the video it is true. But I don’t remember… I only believe that it happened when I saw the footage.”

Despite admitting to the crime, Parker told Mondoweiss that the context of coercion negates the validity of the confession. “International law demands that any statement made as a result of torture or ill-treatment must be excluded as evidence in any proceeding” he explained; “ any confession or incriminating statements made by Ahmad as a result of torture must not be used as evidence against him.”

Before the release of the interrogation footage the case made headlines when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas mistakenly stated that Israeli security forces had executed Ahmad Manasra after the stabbing attack.  During the incident, which occurred on October 12th, two Israel’s aged 13 and 21 were seriously injured and Manasra’s 15-year old cousin, Hassan, was shot dead by Israeli forces. A car knocked Mansara down as he tried to flee the scene.

A disturbing film shot by a passer by of the immediate aftermath of the attack also went viral, showing Mansara’s small body splayed on the sidewalk in a pool of blood, as onlookers yell at him “Die, son of a b***h die!”

According to local news source Ma’an, the court rejected the family’s pleas that Manasra be placed under house arrest. Instead, he will be detained in a closed facility in Galilee until his prosecution, with his next court date set for December 6th.

Under current Israeli legislation, Manasra cannot serve a prison sentence until he turns 14 in January, after which he could face years of incarceration. However this particular case has prompted the Israeli Justice Ministry to draft a bill a few days ago, in which children as young as 12 could be given prison sentences if convicted of manslaughter, murder or attempted murder. The bill will apply to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, despite the fact they are not citizens of the state of Israel.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem as if Manasra will be the last of such cases involving Palestinian minors. 12-year old Ali Ihab Hassab Ali was shot three times after stabbing an Israeli guard in Jerusalem yesterday, and is currently being held under Israeli police custody in Hadassah hospital.

Children detained by the Israeli military

Ahmad Manasra being led by Israeli authorities in a detention facility (Source: Twitter)

Arresting and detaining Palestinian children without a trial in the Israeli military courts is a common method employed by Israeli forces in an attempt to deter involvement in resistance or violence. According to the human rights association Addameer, approximately 700 Palestinian children under the age of 18 are arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli army every year. Indeed, the Israeli military raided a home in Hebron last month, seeking to arrest a Palestinian boy accused of throwing stones only to discover he was 3-years old.

In a report released in July 2015, Human Rights Watch stated that “Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11”, including choking them, throwing stun grenades at them, beating them in custody and interrogating them without the presence of parents or lawyers.

When speaking of Israel’s systematic abuse of children, Parker stated that “ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention is widespread with around 75 percent of kids arrested from the West Bank suffering some form of physical violence during arrest, transfer or interrogation. Despite repeated calls to end ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children in Israeli detention, Israel has persistently failed to implement practical changes to stop violence against child detainees.”

To date 77 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of last month, 13 of whom are  children killed by Israeli forces in what are being condemned by rights groups such as Amnesty International as “unlawful” killings which resemble “extra judicial execution”. The increased use of extreme methods harnessed by the Israeli military in reaction to the current spate of violence raises grave concerns over how Palestinian minors are treated, under a judicial apparatus notorious for the systematic ill-treatment of children.

Israel strip-searches children in new detention center

Charlotte Silver The Electronic Intifada Jerusalem 13 November 2015

Palestinian schoolchildren walk past Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem in late October.    Mahfouz Abu Turk APA images

Israel has arrested so many Palestinian children since the start of October that is has opened a new detention center specifically for them. The center is part of Givon Prison in Ramle, a city in present-day Israel.

Children from the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are being held there in conditions that violate their human rights.

A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service told The Electronic Intifada that the newly opened facility at Givon prison is temporary and fulfills standards for detaining children.

But lawyers who have visited the imprisoned children there warn of overcrowding, poor hygiene and mistreatment.

A total of 56 Palestinian children are being held in Givon, 20 of whom are from the West Bank, according to the Palestinian prisoner advocacy group Addameer.

It is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention to transfer prisoners out of the occupied West Bank or Gaza into present-day Israel.

Lawyers with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Defense for Children International-Palestine are also investigating the prison’s conditions.

Israel arrested 177 Palestinian children in October, more than doubling the number of child prisoners already held, according to human rights groups.

However, many more children from East Jerusalem have been briefly detained and released on house arrest and other conditions since last month.

“Suffocating”

According to lawyers, the cells in Givon are moldy and very little food is provided to the inmates. In at least one instance, the guards cut the electricity for several hours and confiscated food the children had bought from the canteen.

On 1 November, the cells were raided and every child was shackled, stripped and searched inside the prison bathroom. During the raid, the guards physically and verbally abused the children while ransacking their cells.

Addameer is concerned that the children detained at Givon are supervised directly by the prison guards and are therefore vulnerable to abuse.

The group has received reports of physical violence against the children which may constitute torture under international law.

One Palestinian minor from East Jerusalem who was arrested in July was transferred to Givon in the middle of October.

His mother told The Electronic Intifada she only discovered he had been transferred when she tried to visit him at Hasharon, another prison inside Israel where Palestinian minors and women are usually jailed. The mother contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross to find out where her son was being held.

Lawyers representing the family have requested their identity be kept anonymous due to fears of retaliation from the Israeli authorities.

On 20 October, the mother traveled to Givon, where dozens of families waited in the rain to see their children. She said they arrived in the late morning and waited until after dark to be allowed in.
“It was terrible how they treated us,” she said, noting that they watched more buses of children being brought in as they waited.

Once they were allowed to enter the facility, the families had to divide among themselves the 30 minutes they were allotted to speak to their children on a phone through a plexiglass screen.
Her son, who has yet to be sentenced, told her that the conditions were significantly worse in Givon than in Hasharon. Children in Givon are receiving inadequate food and are not allowed to go outside for breaks.

“We are suffocating,” he told her.

“We don’t know how to feel and what to think,” she said. “The people who are making the laws are killing people these days.”

The boy’s father tried to visit less than two weeks later. He was told that his son and seven other boys had their visiting privileges revoked. He was not told why they were being punished.

“What will Israel gain after imprisoning my son other than more hatred and anger?” he asked.
Givon mainly houses people awaiting deportation and low-level criminals.

In 2012, Israel began imprisoning unaccompanied minors from Africa in Givon. The children had been seeking asylum in Israel.

Refugee rights groups protested the move at the time, citing a 2011 Israeli high court ruling against minors being held in prison.

In August that year, Israel’s public defenders reported abysmal conditions at Givon. The cells, beds and yard were infested with cockroaches. The cells also had very little sunlight or ventilation.

8-year-olds detained

Scores of Palestinian minors in East Jerusalem have been detained for brief periods recently.
In order to accommodate the mass detentions, Israel converted the Oz police station in Jerusalem into an interrogation center.

According to Addameer, there is currently such a high rate of children being held for brief periods in Oz that the organization is unable to maintain accurate statistics on how many minors have been detained and released on house arrest.

“That’s the problem. There were so many arrests during October and the beginning of November, we couldn’t follow up on all the cases,” Rafat Sub Laban, an Addameer campaigner, said.

Children as young as 7 or 8 have reportedly been detained at Oz without the presence of their parents, a violation of the Israeli Youth Law that prohibits the interrogation and detention of children under the age of 12.

Several children profiled by Addameer had been picked up off the street and beaten during their arrest and interrogation at Oz.

In addition to being released on house arrest, one child was told that he was forbidden to speak to a list of 15 friends and relations.

Charlotte Silver is a journalist based in Oakland, California. Twitter: @CharESilver.