A Palestinian teenager who lives part-time in Tampa has been released from an Israeli prison after being held there for nearly nine months.
The Associated Press reports Mohammed Ibrahim, held in Israeli custody for nine months, was released Thursday evening and immediately checked into a hospital, according to his uncle.
“He’s skinny and pale, his eyes are sunken in and he still has signs of scabies,” said Zeyad Kadur, the uncle.
Ibrahim was described as thin with a shaved head, and wiping away tears as he was embraced by family members.
His father, Zaher Ibrahim, kissed his son and began to cry.
The teen was 15 at the time when he was visiting family in the West Bank with his parents.
Ibrahim was arrested at his family's home at night after he was accused of throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and several members of Congress.
In an affidavit, Ibrahim said he only confessed to stone-throwing after he was threatened by interrogators with a beating.
The BBC and other news outlets report Ibrahim is the cousin of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American from Tampa who was killed in a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank in July. They worked together at the family's Tampa ice cream shop.
In a news release, CAIR said Ibrahim issued a sworn statement that "detailed being beaten with rifle butts, starved, denied medical care, and threatened by masked interrogators who coerced him into a false confession under fear of further violence."
In the release, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw called on the U.S. government to "investigate Israel’s abuse of an American citizen and ensure that no other child—American or Palestinian—is subjected to the same treatment.”
NPR previously reported Ibrahim could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
