UK minister made secret personal request to cancel Palestinian student’s visa

Disclosed emails reveal that the British Government’s decision to cancel the visa of a 20-year-old Palestinian student in the UK was instigated personally by Robert Jenrick MP, the then Immigration Minister and a current Conservative leadership candidate.

Following an interview given by Dana Abu Qamar to Sky News on 8 October last year, in which she expressed support for the right of Palestinians to resist the illegal Israeli occupation in accordance with international law, Jenrick’s private secretary wrote to Home Office officials.

“The Minister is interested in finding out about Dana Abu Qamar,” wrote the secretary, asking if it would be “possible to revoke her student visa.” The failure to follow any established referral process raises serious concerns about political influence in individual immigration decisions.

On 1 December 2023, the Home Office cancelled Ms Abu Qamar’s student visa on the grounds that her presence in the UK was not “conducive to the public good”. Ms Abu Qamar is challenging that decision by way of a Human Rights Appeal in the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), with a substantive hearing listed for 26-30 September 2024. As part of the proceedings, the new Labour Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, must now review the decision by 13 September.

The cancellation decision shows the remarkable lengths to which the Conservative Government used its powers to suppress pro-Palestinian free speech, including describing protests calling for a ceasefire as “hate marches” and calling on universities to refer student activists to Prevent, the government’s controversial “counter-terrorism strategy”. Widespread repression of Palestine advocacy has intensified further in recent months with the systematic targeting of students, healthcare professionals and, most recently, of journalists.

“The media portrayal of Palestinians and their supporters, often encouraged by the rhetoric of the British government, has too often been influenced by wilful misinformation and misunderstanding of the context of the conflict,” said Dina Abu Qamar. “This has led to unfair perceptions and mischaracterisations of support for Palestinian resistance. At no point, nor would I ever, condone or advocate for violence committed against civilians.”

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In such challenging times, she pointed out, it is even more important to uphold the principles of lawful freedom of expression to ensure that the voices of the Palestinian people, who are living under an illegal occupation, can be heard and understood within the bounds of legality and respect for international humanitarian law.

Since October 2023, Ms Abu Qamar has lost 22 members of her family in Gaza in the course of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. Her public statements during this time reflected the broader struggle of Palestinians under occupation. Since 2006, Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza, which has been recognised widely as unlawful under international law. Gaza has been illegally occupied by Israel since 1967, with approximately 80 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza, including Ms. Abu Qamar’s paternal grandparents, being refugees or descendants of those expelled during the 1948 Nakba .

“To be targeted by a Government minister outside of the established process for speaking on behalf of a people subjected to such atrocities feels not only unjust, but also an attempt to suppress and silence my rights for political reasons and gains,” added Ms Abu Qamar, who is being supported by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC).

“For a government minister to personally and arbitrarily intervene to remove a Palestinian student from the country and suppress her speech while her family is being killed in Gaza is truly unconscionable,” noted Tasnima Uddin of the ELSC. “Despite Jenrick’s previous statements about the importance of protecting freedom of expression, he seems perfectly comfortable suppressing speech when it comes to Palestine solidarity, seemingly for ideological purposes and political gains.”

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