UN expert slams Germany over EU entry ban on Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
5 May 2024 11:26
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Francesca Albanese urges Germany to reverse its decision and other European countries to challenge it meanwhile.

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese gestures after a press conference during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, on March 27, 2024. (AFP)

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, slammed German authorities for issuing a ban on the entry of renowned Palestinian doctor and Glasgow University rector Ghassan Abu Sitta into the visa-free Schengen zone.

"As a European, I apologise to Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta for the ban to enter European countries handed out by Germany, which has reached a new low in defending Israel's genocide, of which Dr Abu Sitta is a brave direct witness," Albanese wrote Sunday on X.

She urged Germany "to reverse this shameful decision and other European countries to challenge it meanwhile," stressing that Abu Sitta "must be allowed to share his precious testimony everywhere and be received with the honors a brave principled human being deserves."

As a European, I apologise to Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta for the ban to enter European countries handed out by #Germany, which has reached a new low in defending Israel's genocide, of which Dr Abu Sitta is a brave direct witness.
I urge Germany to reverse this shameful decision and… https://t.co/G0myUAMf2F
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 5, 2024

Abu Sitta was on Saturday denied access to France where he had been due to address a meeting on the medical situation in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the besieged Strip.

He said on X that he had been invited to address French senators about his experience as a doctor in Gaza but had been blocked at Paris's Charles-de-Gaulle airport.

"They say the Germans put a 1 year ban on my entry to Europe," he wrote.

Abu Sitta said "fortress Europe" was "silencing the witnesses to the genocide while Israel kills them in prison."

Fortress Europe silencing the witnesses to the genocide while Israel kills them in prison.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) May 4, 2024

The surgeon had already been stopped from entering Germany last month where he had hoped to attend a Palestinian Congress along with Greece's former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who was also denied access.

Stormed and canceled by police, the conference was aimed at addressing various issues, such as German arms exports to "Israel" and expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

At the time, Abu Sitta reported that he had been banned from Germany "for the month of April" and indicated that "silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre."

Invited to address a conference in Berlin about my work in Gaza hospitals during the present conflict.
The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country
Silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) April 12, 2024

Abu Sitta spent 43 days in Gaza, notably at the Strip's largest hospital al-Shifa, which Israeli forces pulled out of in early April.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in April that the hospital had been reduced to ashes as a result of "Israel's" siege, leaving an "empty shell" with many bodies.

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta speaks to Al Mayadeen on EU entry ban

Abu Sitta told Al Mayadeen that the main reason French authorities denied him entry to the country was to deny him access to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The doctor was scheduled to speak to authorities in the ICC, which is reportedly exploring issuing arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He underlined the political pressure that the ICC is being subjected to from the US Congress, the Biden administration, and the European governments abetting the Israeli regime's war on Gaza.

The humanitarian said that a European political decision has been made, aiming to silence any witnesses of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, explaining that this policy comes in parallel with an Israeli decision to assassinate all other witnesses to the war crimes remaining in the Gaza Strip or held in detention.

Moreover, Abu Sitta pointed to collusion between Israeli and European officials, aimed at restricting the movement of witnesses to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, specifically to international courts.