Washington, DC – Mohammed Ibrahim is just a normal kid who loves his family and likes photography, his relatives say.
But the Palestinian American teenager spent his 16th birthday this past March in an Israeli jail, despite protests pleading for his release.
His father, Zaher Ibrahim, believes the United States government can free Mohammed and end his ordeal with a single phone call, given the billions of dollars in military aid it sends Israel each year.
“But we’re nothing to them,” Zaher told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
Zaher and other family members said that, while imprisoned, Mohammed has been losing weight and suffering from a skin infection. While US officials have visited the teenager, Israeli authorities have otherwise denied him contact with the outside world.
The teenager’s family — based in Florida and the West Bank — warned that his life may be at risk, and they are calling on the US to secure his release.
The case has been gaining attention in recent weeks, with Congress members and rights groups urging Trump to push for Mohammed’s freedom.
‘An American child’
On Tuesday, more than 100 advocacy groups — including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), IfNotNow, A New Policy and Pax Christi USA — sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling for Mohammed’s release.
“For 6 months, the Israeli military has unjustly imprisoned Mohammed, a child, without a trial, forcing his parents to live a non-stop nightmare. Israel has not allowed Mohammed’s parents to contact him since he was taken,” the letter said.
“Mohammed is an American child with a community in Florida who cares about him deeply. It is the responsibility of the US government to protect all American children, including Palestinian-Americans.”
Israeli soldiers raided Mohammed’s family home in the West Bank in February. According to relatives, Mohammed was visiting from Florida for vacation, but the troops blindfolded him and arrested him.
He was later charged with throwing stones at Israeli settlers, an accusation that he denies.
Since his arrest, his relatives say he has lost nearly a quarter of his body weight. He has also contracted scabies, a skin infection that causes extreme itching and rashes across the body. US officials, they say, offer them updates about his condition.
“It’s hard,” Ibrahim told Al Jazeera. “When you sit to have your meal, you think: Did he get his meal today?”
Even a US representative from a district near Mohammed’s Florida home has gotten involved in the push for his freedom. On Tuesday, Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who represents an area that includes the city of Tampa, called for his safe release.
“I urge the Trump Administration to do everything in its power to obtain the release of Mohammed Ibrahim — a child, an American citizen and a Floridian,” Castor said in a statement, without mentioning Israel.
My statement on the detention of Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim: pic.twit