LONDON: Human rights groups in the US have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to secure the release of a Palestinian-American boy imprisoned in Israel.
Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, 16, of Palm Bay, Florida, has been held for six months without charge over allegations of rock throwing in the occupied West Bank.
More than 100 groups — including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Pax Christi USA — warned Rubio that the boy’s health is deteriorating and he needs to be freed.
“Mohammed is an American child with a community in Florida who cares about him deeply,” they wrote to the secretary of state. “It is the responsibility of the US government to protect all American children, including Palestinian-Americans.”
Ibrahim was just 15 when Israeli soldiers detained him at his family’s home in the West Bank.
