https://arab.news/6jxkh
- Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, 16, has been held for 6 months in Israeli jail without charge
- US Embassy staff say he has lost significant weight, developed scabies in detention
LONDON: Human rights groups in the US have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to secure the release of a Palestinian-American boy imprisoned in Israel.
Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, 16, of Palm Bay, Florida, has been held for six months without charge over allegations of rock throwing in the occupied West Bank.
More than 100 groups — including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Pax Christi USA — warned Rubio that the boy’s health is deteriorating and he needs to be freed.
“Mohammed is an American child with a community in Florida who cares about him deeply,” they wrote to the secretary of state. “It is the responsibility of the US government to protect all American children, including Palestinian-Americans.”
Ibrahim was just 15 when Israeli soldiers detained him at his family’s home in the West Bank.
His father contacted Mike Haridopolos, Republican congressman for Florida, after 45 days without contact with his son. Haridopolos’s office shared details of the case with the State Department.
US Embassy officials in Israel were “following standard procedures,” the family was told, and had sent representatives to meet the boy in prison, where they reported he had lost 25 lb and developed scabies.
Ibrahim’s cousin Sayfollah Musallet, 20, was killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank in July.
The Guardian reported that Ibrahim is accused of throwing rocks at military vehicles on at least two occasions, according to court documents. He is due for a hearing on Oct. 29.
Ibrahim is being held at Ofer prison, having previously been in Megiddo prison, where a 17-year-old Palestinian died in April. Both have been described by human rights groups as having abusive conditions.
“Mohammed traveled to his family’s home in the West Bank for a family vacation to see loved ones,” the group wrote in its letter.
“The Israeli military took Mohammed when he was only 15 years old, forcing him to spend his 16th birthday in an Israeli military prison, terrified and separated from his parents.”
They added that his detention breaks the Fourth Geneva Convention’s ban on transferring detainees from occupied territory to the territory of an occupying power.
“Dozens of Palestinian-American families own land in the West Bank — Palestinian cities and villages that are increasingly being targeted by Israeli settlers and the Israeli military,” the groups said.
“Yet, Palestinian-American families are not receiving any protection from the US government against rising Israeli settler and Israeli military violence against them.”
In August, a billboard advertisement in Times Square, New York City, was put up by the ADC to highlight Ibrahim’s case. It featured an image of him with the words “unjustly imprisoned by Israel” emblazoned on it.
Defense for Children International-Palestine says at least 323 Palestinian children aged 17 or younger are being held in Israeli jails.
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement: “Whenever a US citizen is detained abroad, the Department works to provide consular assistance in accordance with US and international law.”
The spokesperson added: “If we become aware of an arrest of any US citizen, including a minor, we will provide consular services, including prison visits.”