Amnesty International said that Israel's continued detention of a Palestinian youth who was arrested as a child and who is now suffering from severe psychological problems is an "absolutely brutal and unjust act", and demanded his release "immediately".

This came in response to the decision of the Israeli Prisons Authority - yesterday, Wednesday - to renew the solitary confinement of Ahmed Manasra, a Palestinian prisoner who has suffered from severe psychological problems since his arrest when he was a child 7 years ago.

"It is appalling that the Israeli authorities have renewed Ahmed Manasra's period of solitary confinement," said Heba Morayef, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office at Amnesty International.

She added, "Continuing to hold him in such inhumane conditions is a brutal act of extreme injustice. Ahmed has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is in a state of severe depression."

Ahmed Manasra was only 13 years old when he was arrested, “From the beginning, the decision to detain him should have been the last option and for the shortest possible time. Now, he is said to have become a ghost and threatened to commit suicide. The Israeli authorities must immediately rescind their decision to renew his detention. in solitary confinement, and to release him from prison as soon as possible.”

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Israeli Prison Service rejected a request to release Manasra from solitary confinement in Eshel Prison.

Another hearing regarding the circumstances of his solitary confinement will be held in the Beersheba District Court on August 16.

His lawyer, Khaled Zabarka, told Amnesty International that the decision "represents a real danger to his life, and the decisions to extend his repeated solitary confinement are destroying him."

Manasra has been held in prolonged solitary confinement since November 2021, except for his two-month hospitalization, after the Israeli authorities claimed he posed a danger to other prisoners.

This measure constitutes a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, according to the international human rights organization.

Manasra was arrested in October 2015 over the stabbing of Israelis in Pisgat Ze'ev, an illegal Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

He was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to 9 years and 5 months in prison even though he was only 13 years old at the time of his arrest, and the court concluded that he did not participate in the appeal.

He was also interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or parent, and was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment allegedly during interrogation.

A petition from the Manasra family calling for his early release was previously rejected, even though he had already served two-thirds of his sentence.

Under Israeli law, those convicted of murder, rape, and child abuse are entitled to have their sentences reduced by one-third.

Prosecutors say he is not eligible for early release as he was convicted of "acts of terrorism" under a law enacted after his first detention.