Palestinian student who lost visa for Gaza comments to stay in UK

A Palestinian student has won an appeal against the UK government’s attempt to cancel her student visa for remarks she made about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Home Office revoked the visa of Dana Abuqamar, a student at the University of Manchester, after she spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in October last year.

However, the tribunal ruled that the 20-year-old was “not an extremist” and that the Home Office had failed to prove that her statements made her presence “not conducive to the public good”.

In an interview with Sky News the day after the 7 October Hamas attacks, Ms Abuqamar spoke of her “joy” at Gazans “actively resisting” Israeli oppression.

“We are both in fear, but also in fear of how Israel will retaliate and how we’ve seen it retaliate overnight, and the missiles that it’s launched and the attacks, but also we are full of pride,” she added. “We are really, really full of joy of what happened.”

Ms Abuqamar later said she had been misrepresented and that she was not expressing support for Hamas.

The judge found in her favour that references to Palestinians “actively resisting” and as “breaking free” are widely understood to relate to lawful acts of resistance.

And the tribunal also recognised that her description of Israel as an “apartheid state” aligned with the views of numerous human rights organisations.

After the end of the year-long legal battle to clear her name, Ms Abuqamar said “justice has prevailed”.

“This case has reinforced Palestinians’ right to resist occupation in the domestic context; that the expression in support of that right cannot be conflated with support for terrorism; that there is no room for abuse of power by ministers and arbitrary decision-making to undermine the rule of law,” she said.

“I hope that this ruling inspires and strengthens supporters of the Palestinian movement to continue advocating against Israel’s flagrant violations of international law.”

Robert Jenrick, immigration minister at the time and now one of the two remaining candidates to be Conservative Party leader, was accused of personally intervening in the matter after he enquired whether it would be “possible to revoke her student visa”. The decision was also upheld by the new Labour government.

The tribunal found that support for Palestinian resistance does not constitute extremism and therefore revoking her visa on these grounds violated her fundamental rights.

Tasnima Uddin of the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) said the “landmark legal victory is a powerful reminder” that government measures were often wielded to criminalise dissent, particularly within Palestinian, Muslim and other minority communities.

Ms Uddin warned of the danger of using “vague security terms” to stifle expressions of solidarity with Palestine.

“Abuqamar’s victory is a crucial step against the erosion of civil liberties and sends a clear message: solidarity with Palestine is not a crime. Supporting Palestinian resistance is internationally recognised and is not extremism,” she said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is longstanding government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com