The Israeli Supreme Court reduced the sentence of 15-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Manasra from 12 years to nine-and-a-half today after his family appealed.

Manasra and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan Khalid Manasra stabbed and critically wounded two Israelis, aged 13 and 21, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev in the Beit Hanina neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem on 12 October 2015. At the time of the attack, Manasra was just 13.

During the attack, Hassan was shot dead at the scene by Israeli forces, while Ahmad was knocked over by a car and seriously wounded.

A video of Ahmad lying injured and bloody on the ground after being hit by the car was uploaded to social media. In it, an Israeli onlooker can clearly be heard saying: “Die, son of a wh***! Die!” while another tells the police officer to shoot him.

Later, Israeli officials were captured on film hurling abuse at Manasra, then 13, during his interrogation.

According to Israeli media, the decision was made to reduce Manasra’s sentence by two-and-a-half years in part due to evidence that Manasra played a secondary role in the attack.

“We can also not ignore the appellant’s extremely young age and his rehabilitation process,” the Supreme Court judges reportedly said.

According to Israeli media, prison authorities had also requested the sentence reduction owing to Manasra’s behaviour since the crime took place.

The decision was taken “in view of the way the appellant dealt with the crimes he committed, the insights he gained from it, his good behaviour during his stay in the secure [youth] facility and now in jail, and the Probation Service’s impression that a long prison term may have undesirable consequences for him,” the judges’ ruling stated.

The family had also challenged the hefty fines placed they have been charged. But this request was rejected by the Supreme Court, leaving the family to pay $27,872 in fines for the 13-year-old Israeli who was injured, and $22,298 for the other injured Israeli.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)