Washington, DC – Israeli authorities have been detaining an American teenager for nearly six months without trial for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, a claim the 16-year-old’s family denies while expressing concern for his deteriorating health.
Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian-American who was born in the US state of Florida, has been completely cut off from his family since his arrest in February without visitation or telephone rights, his father and uncle said.
According to an Israeli military interrogation video obtained by the family and seen by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Mohammed denied accusations that he was throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles near his village north of Ramallah.
Zaher Ibrahim, the jailed teenager’s father, said on Wednesday that the family has received reports that Mohammed is losing weight drastically and suffering from a skin infection. Ibrahim said he is concerned about his son’s wellbeing.
“Of course, we have fear,” he said. “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 … There’s nothing we know.”
According to the family, United States officials visited Mohammed in detention weeks after he was arrested. But an email from a consular officer suggests that the officials were unable to gain access to him earlier in July.