Palestinian student Dana Abu Qamar has won a human rights appeal, revoking the UK Home Office's decision to strip her of her visa for speaking about Gaza and its resistance. 

The Guardian reported that the Home Office claimed that Dana's presence was "not conducive to public good" but subsequently failed to prove it after her visa was revoked in December 2023.

Dana first caught the attention of authorities during a protest organized at the University of Manchester, where she also leads the Friends of Palestine Society. While speaking to Sky News, Dana explored Gaza's historical resistance against the Israeli "oppressive regime", as well as the 16-year-long blockade the occupation has imposed, calling the Strip's Resistance "a once in a lifetime experience." 

"And everyone is, we are both in fear, but also in fear of what, 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. We are really, really full of joy of what happened," she also said. 

The decision to revoke her visa followed intervention by former immigration minister and Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick.

Case rulings

The tribunal handling the case found that the Home Office's decision was a "disproportionate interference with her protected right to free speech" under the European Convention on Human Rights and affirmed that her statements could not be linked to support of Hamas, after Abu Qamar explained that she had been misinterpreted, asserting she was supporting Gaza's Resistance against the occupation.

Additionally, the tribunal found that she was not an extremist and that her description of the Israeli occupation as an "apartheid state" was consistent with several human rights organizations. Using statements such as "actively resisting" and "broke free" during her speech was also related to the lawful acts of Resistance in Gaza. 

According to Abu Qamar, the ruling set an important precedent that validates the right "to voice support for human rights for the plight of Palestinians and the right to resist occupation."

She also expressed her shock at Jenrick's intervention, suggesting it highlights a broader issue with a politicized approach to immigration and security decisions. 

Regarding the government's crackdown, she described it as "so brutal", saying it felt like she was losing everything in a single second for defending her people's right to resist. 

Precedent in Germany

A similar incident was recorded in Germany, when a Berlin court convicted pro-Palestine activist Ava Moayeri, a 22-year-old German-Iranian national, for the "crime" of leading the chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," back in October. 

The presiding judge, Birgit Balzer, ordered Moayeri to pay a 600 euro fine. While the 22-year-old's defense team argued that the conviction was a violation of free speech, the judge rejected Ava's argument, exhibited by chants of expression against injustice in Gaza and for peace in the Middle East.

Balzer argued that precedents documented in different courts that describe the slogan as "ambiguous" were incomprehensible, considering the chant a declaration against the "right of the State of Israel to exist."

Balzer said the chant was particularly problematic and controversial in Germany, which considers support for the Israeli occupation a matter of "Staatsräson", or reason of state, as the nation bears responsibility and guilt for the Holocaust. 

Moayeri’s legal team defended the slogan as part of the Palestine solidarity movement and denied any antisemitism.