In two separate incidents this month, October 2009, unknown masked persons kidnapped two Palestinian singers, beat them, stole their mobile phones and left them in open areas with injuries.
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights (Al Mezan) condemns these assaults and calls on the Gaza Government to open immediate, effective investigations into them.
  According to the field investigations conducted by Al Mezan Centre, at approximately 11:45pm on Monday 19 October 2009, unknown armed men kidnapped the singer Khalid Mahmoud Faraj, 28.
The singer and his band were at a wedding party for the Lubad family in Ash-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood that evening.
They had collected their musical instruments and equipment and put them into the yellow Volkswagen van that was to transport them after they had finished the party.
 As the van started to move, a civilian car blocked their vehicle.
Five masked men holding rifles got out of the car and one of them asked 'where is Khalid Faraj?' Khalid responded that he was Khalid Faraj.
  According to Khalid's statement to Al Mezan Centre, the armed men ordered him to go with them and forced him into their car.
They covered his head with a cloth bag, ordered him to lower his head and forced him into the back seat.
They then hit him with a sharp instrument on the head.
The car moved and Khalid's brother, Alaa, ran after it.
Two minutes later, the car stopped and the masked men took Khalid out of it and started beat him with sharp instruments and cudgels.
They beat him for about five minutes.
A police car, which the victim's brother ran into coincidentally, arrived at the scene with Alaa.
A policeman pointed his gun at the kidnappers, who released Khalid and escaped the scene.
Khalid was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for medical treatment.
       In separate incident, at around 11:00pm on Wednesday 14 October 2009, six masked armed men in a white Volkswagen with dark glass abducted the singer Salah Jamil Al-Qeshawi, 39, his son Noor Ad-Din, 8, and two members of his band; Mahmoud Al-Khawaja and Mohammed Abu Laila (33 and 35 respectively).
The victims had just finished performing at a wedding party for the Hasouna family at Tunnel Street in Gaza City.
The abducted persons were released in a citrus orchard in the same street after being severely beaten.
The kidnappers also stole Salah's mobile phone and 600 Shekels.
Neighbors of the orchard heard their screams and the cries of the young boy, Noor Ad-Din, and found the victims.
They were all transferred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to medical sources, they all sustained cuts and bruises in different parts of their bodies.
According to Al-Qeshawi's statement to Al Mezan Centre, the armed men were wearing military uniforms and were repeating the word 'atheist' while beating them.
The armed men said to the young boy 'Don't ever sing, singing is haram (religiously forbidden)'.
The child has been traumatized through being forced to witness the armed men assaulting his father.
  Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the two attacks and expresses its grave concern about the return of this type of lawlessness, which seriously infringes on human rights and basic freedoms.
Al Mezan asserts that the Gaza Government holds a clear responsibility to uphold the rule of law and the safety and wellbeing of the population of Gaza.
Al Mezan calls upon the Gaza Government to launch prompt, impartial investigations into the two attacks and bring perpetrators to justice.
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