Overview
- Mohammed Zahar Ibrahim, 16, was released from Ofer Prison on Thanksgiving after roughly nine months in Israeli custody following his February arrest in the West Bank, with an earlier transfer from Megiddo to Ofer reported by family and CAIR.
- A sworn statement shared by CAIR alleges beatings, starvation, scabies, denial of medical care, and a coerced confession, while U.S. Embassy officials and his attorney had warned of his deteriorating health.
- CAIR and Ibrahim’s father dispute accusations that he threw rocks at Israeli settlers, saying he was taken from a home in a pre-dawn raid and held without trial, with family visits barred during detention.
- Reporting credits a grassroots campaign involving more than 100 organizations, Florida community members, and some members of Congress with securing his release, and says the pressure helped win release deals for three other children.
- Coverage places the case in a wider context that includes watchdog allegations of abusive prison conditions, a reported cellmate death from malnutrition, and the continued ICE detention of Leqaa Kordia in Texas despite two bond orders.