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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israel Prison Service (IPS) recently transferred 14-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra to Israel’s Meggido prison, Manasra’s family told Ma’an on Saturday.

Manasra was sentenced to 12 years in Israeli prison earlier this month after he was charged with attempted murder for carrying out a stabbing attack on Oct. 12, 2015 that left two Israelis seriously injured. In addition, the court imposed a fine on his family of 180,000 shekels ($47,187).
Manasra’s family told Ma’an that IPS officials transferred the young prisoner from Israel’s Yarka closed institution -- where he has been held since October of last year -- to Israel’s Megiddo prison following his sentencing on Nov. 7.

The family added that Manasra’s defense lawyers attempted to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court to postpone his transfer to the prison, but the court refused.

A spokesperson for IPS was not immediately available to provide additional details on the specific conditions of Manasra's detention in Meggido.

According to the IPS website there are some 1,000 prisoners held in the facility, 80 percent of whom are "young terrorists" (18-30 year olds). Meanwhile, the prison has a specific wing for the imprisonment of minors, where some 100 prisoners are currently being detained.

Palestinian "security" prisoners and administrative detainees -- held by Israel without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence - are also being held in the prison.

Manasra and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan Khalid Manasra stabbed and critically wounded two Israelis, aged 13 and 21, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

During the attack, Hassan was shot dead at the scene by Israeli forces, while Ahmad was knocked over by a car and seriously wounded.
A video of Ahmad lying injured and bloody on the ground after being hit by the car was uploaded to social media and went viral. In the footage, an Israeli onlooker can clearly be heard saying: "Die, son of a wh***! Die!" while another tells the police officer to shoot him.

In video footage obtained by Ma'an a month after the attack, Israeli officials were captured on film hurling abuses at Manasra, then 13, during his interrogation.

The footage showed segments of the interrogation, as Israeli detectives yelled curses and verbally abused the child, while questioning him about the incident and his motives.

Manasra’s trial was postponed a number of times, which some commentators alleged was a conscious move to delay the case until he turned 14 in January, at which time he became old enough under Israeli law to be given a prison sentence.

Meanwhile, the controversial “Youth Bill” was passed in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in August after a wave of violence erupted in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October last year. The bill allows Israeli authorities to imprison a child under the age of 14 if convicted of “terrorism” against Israeli civilians or military personnel. However, the bill was passed almost a year after Manasra was detained for the attack.

According to a Knesset statement released at the time, Israeli courts would be permitted to “set discussions regarding the imprisoned juvenile while he or she is being held at a close facility,” and that during the discussions the courts “will be allowed to postpone the convicted minor’s transfer date from the closed facility to a prison, shorten the convicted minor’s prison sentence or cancel the prison sentence.”

While critics said the bill was intended to punish primarily Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem who attempt attacks on Israeli civilians and military, it is just one of several laws which have been passed over the last year targeting Palestinian minors and fast-tracking the imprisonment of Palestinian youths.

In July 2015, legislation was passed in the Israeli Knesset allowing sentencing for up to 20 years for someone convicted of throwing stones at vehicles if intent to harm could be proven. However, the law allows the Israeli state to imprison someone for up to 10 years without proof of intent.

The vast majority of those detained for throwing stones at Israelis are Palestinian minors.

In November, Israel established legislation allowing the sentencing of Palestinians to a minimum of three years in prison for the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli. Included in the legislation were provisions allowing Israeli authorities to strip stone throwers in East Jerusalem of their state benefits and canceling access to national health insurance and social services for the families of the accused.

According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), proposals are also underway to allow Israeli authorities to hand down life sentences to children under the age of 14.

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said in a September report that at least 1,000 Palestinian minors between the ages of 11 and 18 had been detained by Israel since January, a number of whom reported being abused and tortured while in detention.

According to prisoners’ rights groups Addameer, a total of 400 Palestinian minors are currently incarcerated in Israeli prisons.