On April 10, 2025, Ahmad Manasra walked out of an Israeli prison after nine and a half years of Incarceration. He was twenty years old. He went in at thirteen. AP News report, he did not leave whole.
Manasra was arrested in October 2015 in East Jerusalem following a stabbing incident in which he was present, but according to the court’s own finding, he was not directly involved. He was run over by a car at the scene. A video of him bleeding in the street was circulated widely. Another video, as IMEMC News documents, showed that police officers were interrogating him without a parent or an attorney. In another video, which IMEMC News captured, the policemen yelled at him as he said he couldn’t remember anything and required medical attention. Despite being under the legal age of criminal responsibility, he was found guilty and sentenced to over 10 years in prison.
Ahmed Manasra’s treatment by the Israeli prison system is an example of what a carceral regime does to vulnerable individuals when no one is watching closely enough. He was placed in solitary detention. He was abandoned there. By the time he was 18, a doctor had diagnosed him with schizophrenia and clearly linked it to the stress of his incarceration. He developed severe depression, delusions, and paranoia. He attempted suicide. He was given monthly injections to keep him stable. The UN (United Nations) and the EU (European Union) demanded his release on several occasions. Due to his classification as a convicted “terrorist,” the Israeli Supreme Court decided he was not eligible for release.
He was only a child.
This is not an edge case. This is the result of criminalizing children, particularly Palestinian children. Manasra’s case is representative of a larger pattern of systematic human rights abuses against Palestinian children under the Israeli military prosecution system, according to Amnesty International. Every year, hundreds of Palestinian children pass through that system; many are detained and physically abused, many are interrogated without legal counsel, and many suffer long-term psychological harm.
The relationship to disability justice here is not coincidental. Solitary imprisonment not only punishes. It disables. The research on prolonged isolation is detailed: it causes long-term neurological and psychological harm, including signs of psychosis, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. When a state places a 13-year-old child in isolation and maintains him there until he develops schizophrenia, this is not a consequence of incarceration. That is the intentional creation of disability through institutional violence.
When the disability develops, it serves as justification for continuous punishment. Manasra’s deteriorating mental health was documented, highlighted by human rights organizations, presented in court, and continually ignored. His illness was not considered a justification to release him. It was addressed as a management issue. Monthly injections keep him functional enough to stay incarcerated.
According to Middle East Eye, Manasra was not even freed from Nafha Prison, where his family had assembled to see him. Israeli police instead dropped him off near Beersheba, about 50 kilometers away, leaving him alone in an empty region until a stranger discovered him and notified his family. On the same day he was released, officials recalled and interviewed him once more. His family has been informed that he will be restricted from speaking to the media indefinitely.
Nine and a half years. A schizophrenia diagnosis. A suicide attempt. A childhood spent inside a cell.
Amnesty International noted upon his release that his freedom is simply the start of a long and difficult road to recovery. No court has required anyone to give the necessary help for rehabilitation.
At CripJustice, we identify what systems do to people. What happened to Ahmad Manasra was torture. It caused a disability. It was carried out on a child. For years, the international community has been calling for his release. He is now out. The question is, what will we demand next?
Sources:
Arrested at 13: Israel releases Ahmed Manasra after a decade in jail — AP News, April 10, 2025
Abusive Interrogation of Palestinian Teen Ahmad Manasra — IMEMC News, November 11, 2015
UN experts urge Israel to free Ahmad Manasra — OHCHR, July 14, 2022
Health Fears For Tortured Palestinian Detainee — Amnesty International, June 11, 2023
Israel releases Ahmad Manasra after decade in prison — Middle East Eye, April 10, 2025
