A 16-year-old American citizen has been released from an Israeli prison after spending nine months in detention, with his family revealing he suffered severe weight loss and contracted scabies during his imprisonment.
Night Raid Arrest and Detention Ordeal
Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian-American teenager from Florida, was finally freed on Thursday following a guilty plea and suspended sentence. The case first came to public attention when the Guardian exposed his situation in July.
Israeli soldiers had taken the teenager from his family's West Bank home during a night raid in February, when he was just 15 years old. According to relatives, he was blindfolded and handcuffed during the arrest in the middle of the night.
Immediately after his release, Ibrahim was taken to hospital for intravenous therapy and blood work. His family reported he appeared severely underweight and pale, still suffering from scabies he contracted while in detention. Shockingly, Ibrahim had lost a quarter of his body weight during his nine-month imprisonment.
International Response and Political Pressure
The case attracted significant attention from American politicians and human rights organisations. In August, more than 100 US human rights, faith-based and civil rights groups demanded his immediate release.
Last month, 27 Democratic members of Congress – including prominent senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen – wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing "grave concern" over Ibrahim's treatment and demanding US action to secure his release.
The US State Department became involved in the case due to Ibrahim's American citizenship, appointing a dedicated official to handle his situation in September. Throughout his detention, his family had virtually no direct contact with him, receiving updates only through US embassy officials.
Broader Pattern of Child Detentions
Ibrahim's case highlights a wider issue concerning the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts.
Data from Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem reveals that between 2005 and 2010, 835 Palestinian minors aged 12 to 17 were tried on stone-throwing charges in military court, with only one acquitted.
As of September, the latest data from Defense for Children International-Palestine shows that 350 Palestinian children between 12 and 17 were being held in Israeli military detention.
In an October interview with DCI-Palestine, Ibrahim described receiving "extremely insufficient" meals in detention, with breakfast consisting of just three tiny pieces of bread and a spoonful of yogurt. "Dinner is not provided, and we receive no fruit whatsoever," he said.
Zeyad Kadur, a close family friend, emphasised that countless other Palestinian children remain in similar circumstances. "There are hundreds of children like Mohammed, unjustly trapped in an Israeli military prison, being subjected to Israel's abuse and torture," Kadur stated.
The family's relief at Ibrahim's release was tempered by concerns for others still detained. "No mother, father, parent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle or child should ever have to go through what Mohammed just went through," Kadur added.
