Palestinian jailed as teen freed after 9 years

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A Palestinian sentenced as a teen for taking part in a knife attack against two Israelis was freed Thursday after spending more than nine years in jail, a lawyer said.

Ahmad Manasra, now 23, was just 13 when he carried out the attack in October 2015 in Israeli-occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.

"He was released today," said Nareman Shehadeh Zoabi, an attorney for rights group Adalah and part of a legal team representing him.

"His family met him and now the family is taking the time with him and to be able to stay quiet for some time alone with Ahmed," she told AFP.

Manasra was originally sentenced in 2016 to 12 years in prison, but his term was later reduced to nine and a half years by Israel's supreme court.

AFPTV footage on Thursday showed Manasra, wearing a surgical mask and with his hair closely cropped, at an Israeli security facility in Jerusalem alongside his father.

Between Manasra's conviction and sentencing, Israeli law was amended to allow civilian courts to convict children as young as 12 for "terrorist offences".

Manasra, an east Jerusalem resident, was the youngest Palestinian to be convicted by an Israeli civilian court at the time.

Zoabi, the lawyer at Adalah legal centre, said her team had worked to secure Manasra's early release in 2022 but failed to secure it.

Among other things, his health had declined drastically after he spent nearly two years in solitary confinement.

Rights group Amnesty International had also raised concerns at the time, warning of his deteriorating psychological condition.

"Ahmad Manasra's release today is a huge relief for him and for his family, but nothing can undo the years of injustice, abuse, trauma and ill-treatment he endured behind bars," Amnesty regional director Heba Morayef said in a statement on Thursday.

Manasra initially pleaded not guilty, saying he had intended to frighten the Israelis, not kill them.