More than 100 faith-based and civil society groups are calling on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to fulfill one of his department’s top obligations—protecting the security of US citizens abroad—by securing the “immediate release” of 20-year-old Sama Safi, an American psychology student who was violently detained by armed Israeli soldiers in the West Bank 77 days ago and has been held in a military prison ever since.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), one of the signatories of a letter sent to Rubio on Monday, emphasized that “The Israeli military had no right to take Sama in the first place, let alone repeatedly hold her in such inhumane conditions” as those she’s been subjected to.

Safi, a student at Birzeit University in the West Bank, was abducted from her family’s home in the occupied territory at 3:00 am on June 2, after Israeli Defense Forces soldiers broke down the door in a raid.

Safi and three other women who were abducted on the same night have been accused of “hostile terrorist activity and additional terrorist-related activities” due to alleged involvement with a student group, but Safi has not been charged with any crimes.

Despite that, the groups said, “the Israeli military has illegally transferred Sama out of the West Bank to the Damon Israeli military prison near Haifa, which amounts to a grave breach of Article 147 of the 4th Geneva Convention.”

Article 147 bans the unlawful transfer, deportation, or confinement of protected persons from an occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power, and constitutes a war crime, wrote the groups, which include the Council on American Islamic Relations, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The groups also emphasized that Safi has been arbitrarily detained for nearly three months while suffering a severe chronic complex health condition, putting her “at risk of rapid deterioration without specialized ongoing care abroad.”

“Interruption of Sama’s specialized care abroad places Sama at high risk of clinical deterioration, severe inflammatory relapse, progressive organ damage, hospitalization, and potentially life-threatening repercussions,” said the groups.

Her condition causes “fevers up to 105°F and requires daily medication and a quarterly injection she travels abroad to receive,” Drop Site News reported in June.

The letter included a statement from Safi in which she described being “shackled, blindfolded, driven around for several hours” on the night she was abducted.

“I was given no food or water for the first 24 hours,” she said. “I was subjected to repeated verbal abuse… I was blindfolded, shackled, and placed in painful stress positions.”

Israel’s military prisons have been called a “network of torture camps” by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, and human rights groups and the United Nations have documented the widespread use of torture against Palestinians in the prisons, including sexual abuse and denial of medical care, food, and water.

According to Drop Site News, a new report released Monday by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society found that at least 10 Palestinian women at Damon prison have contracted scabies "amid overcrowding, poor ventilation, and shortages of basic supplies.

“Sama has always been fascinated by people, and her deep love for others is what led her to study psychology,” reads the letter. “Sama just celebrated her 20th birthday in April. She should be focusing on building her future, not being unjustly abducted by the Israeli military and enduring this nightmare.”

Nearly 10,000 “security” inmates are being held in Israeli prisons as of this month, according to the human rights group HaMoKed.

Last week, Israeli forces abducted 46-year-old Hussein Jabarin, a US citizen, from his family’s home in the West Bank. He was detained for several days before being released Sunday.

Another American citizen, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim, spent nearly 10 months in an Israeli prison last year after being detained for allegedly throwing rocks at vehicles. He was not permitted to speak to his family the entire time he was imprisoned.

“This is how adversaries, not allies, act,” said Anthony Zenkus, a professor at Columbia University, of Safi’s abduction.

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