Hamas terrorists have arrested Gaza youth leader Abu Yazan, who has been using Facebook and other social media to call for political freedom.
He is one of the founders of the Gaza Youth Break Out group and was arrested Sunday after he returned from a speaking tour in France.
Yazan has been quoted as saying, "You used to look around to see if someone is listening, so we used to stay silent, not even think.”
His group earlier this year published a manifesto that condemned Hamas, Fatah and other Arab political factions, as well as those in Israel. It called for freedom and “a normal life.”
Yazan has been missing since he was questioned twice by Hamas, which confiscated his laptop and mobile phone before allowing him to fly to France. He was arrested when he went to Gaza security headquarters to retrieve them, a youth group official told the French news service AFP.
Gaza Youth Break Out sent a Twitter message Sunday, “#Gybo member, human rights activist, and blogger, Abu Yazan, arrested by the authorities in #Gaza.”
He has been denied a lawyer and family visits, and a youth colleague, Abu Ghassan, told the news agency, "They knew him very well and …it was an easy excuse for them to say he was involved in foreign interference or something. He was beaten up for a day or two and then released. We know nothing of his whereabouts.”
Hamas and Fatah have come under increasing world criticism for executions and torture. Human rights groups, which previously have singled out Israel for military retaliation to terrorist attacks, have accused the rival Palestinian Authority factions of suppressing opposition rallies.
The youth group has used social media to call for unity among warring Arab factions, and Yazan has led anti-Israeli demonstrations in northern Gaza.