Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Liberation of Palestine the Hamas Way: Gaza police order male hairdressers to quit working


Five men face arrest and fines if they carry on styling women's hair in crackdown blamed on Hamas

The Guardian


"Hatem Ghoul was on his way to work at his hairdressing salon in Gaza City earlier this week when he got word that his employees had been paid a visit by the police.

They had left a message for Ghoul: could he drop by the police station; there was something they wanted to discuss. And, it turned out, not just him. The other four male hairdressers in the city had similar requests.

Ghoul had been expecting this for almost a year, since reports that Hamas was cracking down on men cutting and styling women's hair. But Ghoul and his male colleagues in Gaza City continued to work, and no one stopped them.

This week he was left in no doubt. One by one, he told me, the men were called into a room where an unrelated detainee was chained to a wall by his wrists, and told to sign a pledge to give up their profession or face arrest and a 20,000 shekel (£3,400) fine.

"I said I didn't want to sign. They said, okay but we will take you to the cells because what you do is against Sharia [Islamic law]. Then I realised I had no choice."....."

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