Muhammad is from Jabaa village in the south of the West Bank. He was arrested on October 6, 1985 for resisting the Israeli occupation as part of Fatah fighters organization. He was shot and injured when he was arrested and then sentenced to life in prison for carrying out anti-occupation operations. He is the sole survivor of the capture operation near the Jordanian border. According to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS), he is one of a relatively small number of Palestinians who have been in prison since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and one whom Israel has refused to set free in any prisoners’ release or exchange deal. He is also known as the Dean of the West-Bank prisoners.

Life in Prison

During his long years of detention, he has been subjected to torture and acts of vengeance; aside from the serious injury he sustained during his arrest in 1985, he was also subjected to harsh and long interrogations, and his family home was demolished three times. His wife died in 2015 after being in a coma for one year and he has three children who were small when he was arrested but today are married and have brought him nine grandchildren, but they cannot visit him in prison because they are second-degree relatives. Mohammad is currently held in Ramon prison and suffers from severe health problems, most notably a fluid cyst in the kidneys, chronic stomach problems, and loss of half of the vision in his right eye due to deliberate medical negligence.

As of 2023, following the release of Karim and Maher Younis, he is the longest held Palestinian prisoner.