Protection for Youngsters Worldwide – Palestine (DCIP) has obtained testimony from Palestinian American teenager Mohammed Ibrahim, whose case has turn into a logo for the mistreatment of minors in Israeli jails.
In an interview with a DCIP lawyer, printed on Tuesday, 16-year-old Mohammed described the cruel circumstances he has confronted since his detention started in February, together with skinny mattresses, chilly cells and meagre meals.
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“The meals we obtain are extraordinarily inadequate,” he’s quoted as saying.
“For breakfast, we’re served simply three tiny items of bread, together with a mere spoonful of labneh. At lunch, our portion is minimal, consisting of solely half a small cup of undercooked, dry rice, a single sausage, and three small items of bread. Dinner shouldn’t be offered, and we obtain no fruit by any means.”
In accordance with DCIP, Mohammed has misplaced a “appreciable quantity of weight” since his detention began greater than eight months in the past. He was 15 years outdated on the time.
Mohammed’s household, rights teams and US lawmakers have been pleading with the administration of United States President Donald Trump to stress Israel to launch {the teenager}.
The US has offered Israel with greater than $21bn over the previous two years.
“Not even an American passport can defend Palestinian youngsters,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability programme director at DCIP, mentioned in an announcement.
“Regardless of his household’s advocacy in Congress and involvement of the US Embassy, Mohammad stays in Israeli jail. Israel is the one nation on this planet that systematically prosecutes youngsters in army court docket.”
After Israeli troopers raided Mohammed’s household dwelling in the occupied West Financial institution in February, they took {the teenager} into custody. Mohammed recalled to DCIP that the troopers beat him with the butts of rifles as they transported him.
{The teenager} was initially housed within the infamous Megiddo jail – which a not too long ago launched Palestinian detainee described as a “slaughterhouse” – earlier than being transferred to Ofer, one other detention facility.
“Every prisoner receives two blankets, but we nonetheless really feel chilly at night time,” Mohammed advised DCIP.
“There isn’t a heating or cooling system within the rooms. The one gadgets current are mattresses, blankets, and a single copy of the Quran in every room.”
{The teenager} has been charged with throwing stones at Israeli settlers, an accusation that he denies. Authorized consultants say that Palestinians from the occupied West Financial institution virtually by no means obtain honest trials in Israel’s army courts.
The abuse that freed Palestinian captives have described after the current prisoner trade between Hamas and Israel, as a part of the Gaza ceasefire deal, spurred renewed requires releasing Mohammed.
“Proper now, Mohammed Ibrahim, a US citizen, is being held in an Israeli jail. His well being is deteriorating. The circumstances are determined,” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley wrote on X on Sunday.
“The US should use each avenue out there to safe the discharge of this Palestinian American baby.”
Because the begin of the struggle on Gaza in October 2023, not less than 79 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli jails amid an absence of medical care, restrictions on meals and stories of violence and torture, in keeping with the Palestinian Prisoner Membership.
Medical officers in Gaza have described indicators of torture and execution on the our bodies of slain Palestinian captives handed over by Israel after the ceasefire over the previous week.
Earlier this yr, Mohammed’s kin advised Al Jazeera that they worry for his life.
His father, Zaher Ibrahim, mentioned that the Trump administration may use its leverage to free his son with a single telephone name. “However we’re nothing to them,” he advised Al Jazeera.
Since 2022, Israeli forces and settlers have killed not less than 10 US residents, together with two within the West Financial institution in July.
