A Florida teenager is in an Israeli prison. Why his family and advocates say he should be released

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida family already grieving the beating death of a 20-year-old relative is now pleading with U.S. leaders to help free the dead man’s cousin, a 16-year-old Palestinian-American from Florida who has been held in an Israeli prison for eight months.

Relatives, advocacy groups and some Congress members have been seeking the release of Mohammed Ibrahim since he was taken into custody when he was 15 by the Israeli military in February. Mohammed’s 20-year-old cousin, Sayfollah Musallet, was beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank village of Al Mazra as-Sharqiya earlier this year.

“This is really about two American sisters, one who just buried her son and her older sister going to give her support and also praying that her son doesn’t join the club of Americans killed overseas,” said Mohammed’s uncle, Zeyad Kadur. “They’re going through this together.”

“It’s basically made our family numb,” said Kamel Musallet, Sayfollah’s father and Mohammed’s uncle. “It’s been over three months and there’s not a day me and my wife don’t cry.”

Jailed while visiting family

Mohammed, of Palm Bay, Florida, was visiting family in the West Bank with his parents in February, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He was arrested on Feb. 15 at a family home in their village near Ramallah for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to the group and several members of Congress.

Israel’s military has conducted regular arrest raids in the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war, taking unprecedented numbers of Palestinians into prisons where inmates have reported poor treatment and conditions. Israel says the mass arrests are to root out militancy. But civilians and stone-throwers have been caught up in the raids — and Palestinian-Americans like Mohammed have been among them.

Israel treats stone-throwers as militants, while Palestinians widely see the practice as legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation.

The teen could get up to 20 years in prison for the alleged offense, for which his supporters say there is scant evidence.

In an affidavit provided by Kadur, Mohammed is documented as telling his Palestinian lawyer that he was assaulted by Israeli soldiers using rifle butts when he was arrested and only confessed to stone-throwing after he was threatened by interrogators with another beating.

“Initially, I refrained from confessing, but the interrogator threatened that if I did not comply, he would instruct the soldiers to beat me. Out of sheer fear, I ultimately confessed,” the affidavit quotes the teen as saying.

Family says they have been kept in the dark

More than 100 U.S. faith-based, human rights and civil rights organizations have sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging action to obtain Mohammed’s release.

In addition, in a letter sent Tuesday to Rubio and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, 15 U.S. senators and 12 U.S. representatives said they have “grave concern” over Mohammed’s situation. They urged Rubio and Huckabee to intervene by “engaging the Israeli government directly to secure the swift release of this American boy.”

Musallet said that Huckabee visited the family in July, following his son’s death, raising their hopes that Mohammed would be released.

“We said, ‘alhumdulillah,’ at least some good has come out of it and Mohammed was going to come out of prison,” Musallet said, using an Arabic phrase giving praise to God. “And 3 1/2 months later, still nothing.”

Mohammed’s family has been barred by the Israeli military from direct contact with their son since his arrest and has relied on sporadic reports about his condition at Israel’s Megiddo and Ofer prisons from the U.S. Embassy in Israel, his advocates say.

“We hope he knows we’re doing everything we can to get him out,” said Zaher Ibrahim, Mohammad’s father.

Kadur said Mohammed, who turned 16 while in prison, was “abducted in the middle of the night and handcuffed and blindfolded.”

For his parents, “the last time they saw their son was when he was thrown in the back of a Jeep” in February, Kadur said.

“He’s not even an adult,” the teen’s uncle said. “He’s a minor and in our eyes as a family, we also believe he’s a hostage because a 15-year-old taken from his bedroom at gunpoint, blindfolded and handcuffed doesn’t describe the word prisoners.”

Abysmal conditions described in Israel prisons

In the affidavit provided to the family by his lawyer, the teen said that cells are overcrowded, with some prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor, according to the affidavit.

Mohammed has lost weight and suffered a scabies infection, according to reports from the US Embassy shared with his family and obtained by The Associated Press.

“His health, mentally and physically, are a big question for the family,” Kadur said. In April, a teenager from the West Bank who was held for six months without charge in Megiddo prison, where Mohammed spent time, became the first Palestinian under 18 to die in Israeli detention, collapsing in the prison’s yard.

Defense for Children International-Palestine, whose lawyer met with Mohammed, said inmates at Ofer are given meager portions of food at breakfast and lunch, no dinner and no fresh fruit. Showers are provided but only for a short time for a group of prisoners and not everyone gets a shower, the group said.

Mohammed’s mother and father remain in the West Bank, hoping to return to the U.S. with him, the group said, adding that they fear if they leave, Israel will not let them return.

Israel’s military, police and Shin Bet domestic security agency did not respond to AP requests for comment about Mohammed’s case. The Israel Prison Service said it does not comment on individual inmates or provide information regarding their identity, legal status, location, or charges, due to privacy, operational and security considerations.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it is tracking Mohammed’s case closely and working with the Israeli government on the matter. It said it had no further comment due to privacy and other concerns.

Among the Palestinians apprehended during Israel’s West Bank raids, some are released within days. But others, including teens, have been held without charge or trial for months. Other Americans have faced extended Israeli military detention. And at least four Palestinian Americans have been killed by the Israeli military or settlers since the war’s start.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

At Ofer Prison, where Mohammed is currently held, detainees who spoke to the AP have reported meager rations of food, overcrowding and regular beatings by guards.

The teen’s affidavit says he spent the first month of his incarceration being interrogated in Ofer Camp — a facility Israel’s military developed during the war to house Gaza detainees that has drawn criticism for inhumane conditions.

Kadur, the teen’s uncle, said he doubted other American citizens would be treated this way.

“I have to ask the question to our elected officials on any level, if his name wasn’t Mohammed, if he wasn’t Palestinian-American, would he still be there?” Kadur said.

“The real question is why is a 16-year-old starved and with a skin infection still there instead of back home going to a football game or getting his drivers permit?”

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Martin reported from Atlanta and Frankel from New York.