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The family of a Palestinian American child whose cousin is slain American Sayfollah Musallet is begging for his release from Israeli prison, where he has been held for nearly six months in pre-trial detention over allegations of throwing rocks.
Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim was 15 when Israeli authorities imprisoned him, and turned 16 in Israeli detention, his family told news outlets this week. Israeli authorities blindfolded and arrested him at his family’s home in the occupied West Bank in February. Mohammed and his family deny his charges.
Israeli authorities have reportedly denied his family any access to Mohammed, not even a phone call. But U.S. consulate officials told his family that they have visited him in prison, Al Jazeera reports. The family only gets tidbits of information, from the U.S. embassy, other children who have seen him at the prison, or from video footage of his court appearances.
The family says that he has contracted scabies, an infection in which mites burrow into the skin and lay eggs, and that he has lost over a quarter of his weight while in prison.
“When you can’t visit him and you can’t get a phone call from him, what do you know? We don’t know if he’s dead,” the boy’s father, Zaher Ibrahim, told Al Jazeera. “There’s nothing we know.” He said that he is concerned that Israeli authorities may use torture to obtain evidence against Mohammed, as is a common practice used on children by Israeli officials.
Mohammed is being held at Megiddo Prison, a facility notorious for Israeli abuses. Another Palestinian child detained there by Israeli authorities died earlier this year, after being “systematically starved,” Defense for Children International-Palestine reported. Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad was just 17 and was also being held in pre-trial detention when he died. He was the first documented Palestinian child to die in Israeli detention.
Mohammed is first cousins with Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers last month. His family has demanded a U.S.-led investigation into his death, but the U.S. has declined. Like other Israelis who have killed American citizens, Musallet’s killers have not faced any consequences, nearly a month from his death.
Mohammed was born in Florida and lives with his family, who split their time between the occupied West Bank and Palm Bay, Florida, The Guardian reports.
In March, the family sent a message to U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, a Republican who represents Palm Bay, hoping to get support, saying that they have “exhausted all efforts locally here in Israel.” The Republican’s office replied, saying that the embassy told them that Israel was “following standard procedures.”
“It’s obvious we get swept under the rug. And as far as getting help or investigations or some type of justice, we don’t know,” said Mohammed’s uncle, Zeyad Kadur, per Al Jazeera. “Eight Americans have been killed in the last 19 months. Where is our place in line? Are we number nine?”
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