US groups demand release of American-Palestinian teen imprisoned by Israel | Florida

More than 100 American human rights groups, denominational rights and civil rights have demanded that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, immediately obtained the release of a 16-year-old American-American-Palestinian citizen who has been in an Israeli prison for six months for allegations to launch rock.

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, deteriorated health, puts “his line life” and dismantles the intervention of the United States in the most important organized pressure campaign on the case of the imprisoned adolescent.

“Mohammed is an American child with a community in Florida who cares deeply about him,” wrote the organizations. “It is the responsibility of the American government to protect all American children, including the Palestinians-Americans.”

The ADC, one of the signatories, also erected a display panel in the New York Times Square earlier in August with the photography of Ibrahim and the message “Free Mohammed Ibrahim”, describing it as a Palestinian-American adolescent “unjustly imprisoned by Israel”.

The Guardian was the first to report the detention of Ibrahim. The teenager, who divides his time between Palm Bay, Florida and the West Bank, was 15 years old when Israeli soldiers arrested him from his home in the West Bank in February. He has since developed a scabies,, According to emails from the State Department to the family and lost at least 25 pounds, says his lawyer.

The Guardian learned his detention while investigating the death of the cousin of Ibrahim, Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American would have been beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July.

The teenager is now detained in the off prison, in Israel, which the coalition has described as notorious to abuse Palestinian children. He has already been arrested in Megiddo prison, where a 17 -year -old Palestinian teenager died in April from what defenders described as abusive conditions.

“Mohammed went to his family home in the West Bank for family vacation to see relatives,” said the letter. “The Israeli army took Mohammed when he was only 15 years old, forcing him to spend his 16th anniversary in an Israeli military prison, terrified and separated from his parents.”

The military court documents seen by the Guardian show that the Israeli authorities accuse Mohammed of throwing stones on Israeli vehicles in at least two separate incidents. During a hearing of the August court, his lawyer said that Ibrahim needed medical care, with his next hearing scheduled for October 29.

The groups argue that Ibrahim’s imprisonment violates the ban on the fourth Geneva Convention from transferring prisoners from the territory occupied to the territory of the occupying power. He is part of 323 Palestinian children aged 12 to 17 currently detained in Israeli military detention, according to the defense for international children for children.

His father, Zaher Ibrahim, contacted Mike Haridopolos, a member of the Florida Republican Congress, in March after more than 45 days without contact with his son, box deposited with the legislator and seen by The Guardian Shows. The Haridopolos office confirmed that it had shared family information with the State Department, which said that the United States Embassy in Israel “followed standard procedures.”

Officials of the United States Embassy have made social protection checks on Ibrahim since his detention, but have been confronted with restrictions in July after informing the family that Ibrahim suffered from scabies and received medical treatment, according to the email of the State Department examined by The Guardian. It is not clear if the officials have taken up the social protection checks.

In response to the letter, a spokesperson for the State Department said: “Whenever a American citizen is owned abroad, the ministry works to provide consular assistance in accordance with American and international law.” The spokesman also said: “If we become aware of an arrest of any American citizen, including a minor, we will provide consular services, including visits to prison.”

The organized campaign represents an escalation in efforts to guarantee the release of Ibrahim after months of what defenders describe as an inadequate government response to its detention.

“Dozens of American Palestinian families have land in the West Bank – Palestinian towns and villages which are increasingly targeted by Israeli settlers and the Israeli army,” the groups wrote. “However, American Palestinian families do not receive any protection against the American government against the rise of Israeli settlers and Israeli military violence against them.”