More than 100 US human rights, faith-based, and civil rights groups have demanded that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, immediately secure the release of a 16-year-old dual American-Palestinian citizen who has been in an Israeli prison for six months over allegations of rock throwing.
The coalition, which includes the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Pax Christi USA, warned that Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim’s deteriorating health puts “his life on the line” and demanded urgent US intervention in the most significant organized pressure campaign on the imprisoned teenager’s case yet.
“Mohammed is an American child with a community in Florida who cares about him deeply,” the organizations wrote in the letter. “It is the responsibility of the US government to protect all American children, including Palestinian-Americans.”
The ADC, one of the signers, also erected a billboard in New York’s Times Square earlier in August featuring Ibrahim’s photograph and the message “Free Mohammed Ibrahim”, describing him as a Palestinian-American teenager “unjustly imprisoned by Israel”.
The Guardian was first to report Ibrahim’s detention. The teen, who splits his time between Palm Bay, Florida, and the West Bank, was 15 when Israeli soldiers arrested him from his home in the West Bank in February. He has since developed scabies, according to state department emails to the family, and lost at least 25lbs, his lawyer says.
The Guardian learned of his detention while investigating the death of Ibrahim’s cousin, Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American allegedly beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July.
The teenager is now being held at Israel’s Ofer prison, which the coalition described as notorious for abusing Palestinian children. He was previously detained at Megiddo prison, where a 17-year-old Palestinian teenager died in April from what advocates described as abusive conditions.
“Mohammed traveled to his family’s home in the West Bank for a family vacation to see loved ones,” the letter reads. “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.”
Military court documents seen by the Guardian show Israeli authorities accuse Mohammed of throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles in at least two separate incidents. At an August court hearing, his lawyer said Ibrahim needed medical care, with his next hearing scheduled for 29 October.
The groups argue Ibrahim’s imprisonment violates the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition on transferring detainees from occupied territory to the occupying power’s territory. He is among 323 Palestinian children aged 12-17 currently held in Israeli military detention, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
His father, Zaher Ibrahim, contacted Mike Haridopolos, a Republican congressman from Florida, in March after more than 45 days without contact with his son, casework filed with the lawmaker and seen by the Guardian shows. Haridopolos’s office confirmed it had shared the family’s information with the state department, which said the US embassy in Israel was “following standard procedures”.
US embassy officials have conducted welfare checks on Ibrahim since his detention, but faced restrictions in July after informing the family that Ibrahim was suffering from scabies and was receiving medical treatment, according to state department emails reviewed by the Guardian. It is unclear whether officials have resumed the welfare checks.
In response to the letter, a spokesperson for the state department said: “Whenever a US citizen is detained abroad, the Department works to provide consular assistance in accordance with US and international law.” The spokesperson also said, “If we become aware of an arrest of any US citizen, including a minor, we will provide consular services, including prison visits.”
The organized campaign represents an escalation in efforts to secure Ibrahim’s release after months of what advocates describe as inadequate government response to his detention.
“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 wrote. “Yet, Palestinian-American families are not receiving any protection from the US government against rising Israeli settler and Israeli military violence against them.”
Joseph Gedeon is a politics breaking news reporter based in Washington.
