An exiled Palestinian from Gaza is shocked and appalled by Hamas' brazen bid to get its ban overturned in the UK, revealing to GB News how he suffered at the hands of the terror group in 2019.
The dissident's horrifying account comes days after Hamas initiated a legal challenge to overturn its designation as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, asserting that the proscription infringes upon rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
London-based law firm Riverway Law acting on behalf of Hamas has submitted a 106-page legal application to Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, appealing against the Government’s designation of the organisation as terrorists.
It claims the ban breaches Hamas supporters’ human rights under the ECHR by “unlawfully restricting” their freedom of speech and rights to protest.
An exiled Palestinian from Gaza is shocked and appalled by Hamas' brazen bid to get its ban overturned in the UK,
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Tell that to one exiled dissident, who knows from experience that Hamas does not follow the letter of the law when it comes to Gazans' right to protest.
Born in 1997 to a family with six children, Hamza Howidy grew up and lived his entire life in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
"My father taught me from an early age that our entire family was anti any Islamist movement that would attempt to come to power," the Palestinian told GB News.
In 2007, his family's worst nightmare became a reality when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), imposing Islamist rule over the territory.
Hamza continued: "We were seeing how Hamas treated people simply for a post on Facebook. But at the same time, we didn't protest against them."
In 2019, he refused to stay silent any longer.
"I had this crazy idea of joining people who dared to protest Hamas for the firsttime since the terror group came to power. We were the crazy people who dared to protest against Hamas while we were at the same time seeing how Hamasdeals with dissenting Gazans," he told GB News.
Carrying the banner, 'We Want to Live', Hamza took to the streets along with scores of other Palestinians to demand increased economic opportunities and the removal of Hamas from power.
Despite insisting that the protests were peaceful and their demands legitimate, Hamas subjected the young Palestinian activists to beatings, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and torture.
Hamza was accused of dissent, arrested and held in a Hamas prison, where he was "tortured - not for a day or two or five - but every day".
Hamza does not downplay what the Israeli hostages held in tunnels have been through over the last 18 months as he "knows this nightmare" better than most but they at least had a "bargaining chip".
Hamas has "no special interest" in everyday Gazans so the terrorists inflict the worst of their brutality on them, he tells GB News.
Hamza's family managed to bribe a member of Hamas to get him out of prison after a few weeks but that wasn't the situation for many of his friends who were locked up for months or even a year.
"My friend Amir was literally shocked with electricity for months for the crime of protesting against Hamas," he told GB News.
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Hamas has "no special interest" in everyday Gazans so the terrorists inflict the worst of their brutality on them, Hamza says
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Speaking to us from a safe location in exile, Hamza reveals how the lot of Gazan dissidents has worsened since October 7.
He explained: "Only yesterday I was talking to two of my friends from Gaza who are being chased by Hamas. Hamas militias went to their families' tents where they live and they were asking for them because they participated in the protest.Thankfully, the two people were not with their families in the tent. Hamas then issued what we terrifyingly call in Gaza as the 'red list'.
"Being on the red list means whatever happens to you is totally okay. Both of them are on the red list simply for protesting."
When asked what he thinks about Hamas using the ECHR to challenge its proscription as a terrorist organisation in the UK, Hamza said: "If they [Hamas] want to change their proscription from a terrorist organisation, a good place to start would be to stop terrorising the Gazan protesters."
He added: "Their actions mean to me more than whatever they can write on a paper or a document."
