On Thursday, the European Union called on the Israeli authorities to immediately release Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Manasra, who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
And the European Union office in Jerusalem stated, through a tweet via its official account on Twitter, that representatives of the Union and a number of member states attended the trial session of the prisoner Manasra (20 years), which was held on Thursday, after he spent a year in solitary confinement, and the Israeli court decided to extend his isolation. for another four months.
The European Union said: “The United Nations considers solitary confinement for a period of more than 15 days as a form of torture.”
He added, “We call on the Israeli authorities to immediately end his solitary confinement, and to ensure that he receives the necessary psychological assistance and support.”
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He continued, “Given serious international concerns about fair trial standards and due process in this case, we call on the Israeli authorities to release him promptly.”
The Israeli authorities did not issue a comment on the European Union’s call until the news was published.
Earlier, the Palestinian Prisoners Club (unofficially) reported in a press statement, quoting lawyer Khaled Zabarqa, that the Israeli court in Beersheba (south) extended the isolation of the prisoner Ahmed Manasra, despite his serious health and psychological condition, for a new period of four months, noting that he is isolated For more than a year, he has been in the cells of the “Ashkelon” detention center.
The club stated that the prisoner Manasra was born on January 22, 2002 in Jerusalem, and he is one of a family consisting of ten members, he has two brothers and he is the eldest male in his family, in addition to five sisters.
Before his arrest in 2015, he was a student at Al-Jeel Al-Jadeed School in Jerusalem, in the eighth grade, and he was 13 years old at the time.
In October 2015, the Israeli authorities accused Ahmed Manasra, when he was 13 years old, and his cousin, “Hassan” (15 years old at the time), with stabbing two Israelis in the “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement, north of East Jerusalem.
Hassan Manasra was shot dead at the scene, while Ahmed was hit by a car and sustained head injuries.
Manasra was convicted in 2016 of attempted murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison, although he denied the charges against him.
Medical reports confirmed that Ahmed suffered from schizophrenia as a result of the harsh treatment he was subjected to at an early age.
An international campaign was launched in support of the prisoner, advocating for his immediate release, but the Israeli authorities recently refused his “early release”.
