Palestinian Journalist Arrested For Laughing At The Beach

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Asma al-Ghul, a Palestinian journalist taking a day off at a beach in Gaza was arrested by Hamas policemen for laughing loudly and being dressed immodestly while at the beach.


Asma failed to wear a hijab headscarf while swimming and therefore violated the law according to the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice security forces who confiscated her passport and interrogated her as to the identities of the friends who were with her. Her friends were detained for three hours and beaten before being released.

The special security force reports directly to the Ministry of Waqf Affairs and is said to be a copy of units that have long been operating in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. The Hamas government, according to local reporters, has refrained from publicly admitting that the force exists out of fear of being branded fundamentalist.


The Hamas force consists of dozens of plainclothes police officers who patrol beaches, public gardens, restaurants, hair salons and coffee shops to make sure that males and females are not mixing together and that the women are dressed modestly.

Asma said that Hamas has banned men in the Gaza Strip from swimming topless. "And as in my case, Hamas has banned women from laughing while swimming," she added.

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