CAIRO — Amer Baalousheh, a journalist from the Gaza Strip, never expected the Hamas-affiliated security services to abduct journalists whom they consider against the movement, until it happened to him. He was abducted from the streets of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 29.

Baalousheh, 26, who works as a reporter for the Egyptian El Badil newspaper, has also recently emerged as a youth activist and has led many demonstrations, most notably a Jan. 12 electricity protest in Gaza.

“At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Saturday [April 29], two civilians started following me as soon as I left my home in Beit Lahia. Suddenly, a bus approached me. Gunmen opened the doors and pounced on me along with the two walking behind me. They forced me into the bus and took me to the headquarters of the Internal Security in Jabaliya camp,” Baalousheh told Al-Monitor.

He explained that they started beating him as soon as they took him. “Interrogation started at 8 the next morning. They questioned me about the electricity protests that started and ended in January. We only demanded that the electricity situation in Gaza be improved. The officers kept assaulting me and insulting me until 3 in the afternoon," he said.