Israeli District Court extends solitary confinement of Palestinian youth prisoner Ahmad Manasra by additional four months based on secret evidence
Today, 24 November 2022, the Be’er Sheva District Court extended the solitary confinement of 20-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra by an additional four months, on the basis of secret evidence. Ahmad has already been held in solitary confinement for over a year, since November 2021.
Manasra’s legal team consists of Adalah Attorneys Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi and Adi Mansour, and private Attorney Khaled Zabarqa.
Manasra, a resident of East Jerusalem, began serving a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence as a minor, at the age of 14, after being convicted of attempted murder in an incident that took place when he was 13 years old.
During his time in prison, Manasra’s, mental health has severely deteriorated and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. According to doctors, Manasra’s condition requires immediate specialist medical attention outside prison.
The court accepted in full the State’s contentions that Manasra poses a threat to himself and to others, which it based on secret intelligence information, citing the State attorney’s office, which argued that, “The isolation is necessary both to ensure the safety of the respondent himself [Manasra], and to ensure that others are safe from the respondent (…) and that isolation is necessary to maintain order and discipline in the prison.”
The court ruled that it was “satisfied that the [Israel Prison Service] is providing suitable medical care, given [Ahmad’s] psychiatric condition”. The court disregarded the severity of Manasra’s mental health condition and an assessment made by an independent psychiatrist that the isolation would lead to further deterioration in his mental health and that he needed urgent and immediate medical attention outside the prison.
The legal team argued that the conditions to which Manasra is subjected amount to torture and ill-treatment, and stand in violation of international human rights law, and demanded his immediate release from solitary confinement.
On 24 October 2022, the legal team filed a request for a new independent psychiatric evaluation of Manasra’s current mental health condition. As a result, an independent psychiatrist will examine Manasra on Sunday, 27 November 2022, and the team will consider further legal action to end Manasra’s solitary confinement based on said examination.
In response to the court’s decision, Adalah commented that, “The Israeli judiciary systematically uses secret evidence to justify decisions that violate the human rights of Palestinians in all areas under Israeli control. We will continue to fight for Ahmad to receive the treatment he needs.”
Related Press Releases:
AHMED MANASRA: Be’er Sheva District Court held hearing on Prison Service request to extend his solitary confinement; next hearing 24 November 2022
Adalah to Israeli Supreme Court: Cancel Counter-Terrorism Law provision blocking release of Ahmad Manasra 03 October 2022
