King’s College London Withdraws Pro-Palestine Student’s Visa, Risking His Torture, After Pressure From Israel Lobby Group

A Russell Group university has been accused of putting the life of a second-year student at risk by withdrawing his visa sponsorship after pressure from a pro-Israel lobby group.

King’s College London (KCL) told international relations student Usama Ghanem, 21, that because he took part in pro-Palestine protests on campus, he would have to return to Egypt – despite being aware that he is likely to be imprisoned and tortured there. 

Ghanem, along with his father and brother, were imprisoned and tortured by the Egyptian authorities in 2020 over the family’s opposition to the regime. When he was 16 years old, Ghanem was subjected to cruel and violent treatment in prison, leading to a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis, which KCL was aware of. 

KCL issued Ghanem with an indefinite suspension and subsequent visa cancellation with referral to the Home Office after receiving a letter from pro-Israel charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) in March, which explicitly called for action to be taken against students engaging in pro-Palestine protests. 

Ghanem has been subjected to three separate sets of disciplinary proceedings by KCL since June last year: first for protesting at an alumni awards event in June 2024, then for protesting at a small talk about Iranian-Israeli relations in February 2025, and then for protesting at the London Defence Conference in May 2025.

It was a protest at the least high-profile of the three events – a Kings’ Geopolitical Forum talk called ‘From Conflict to Connections: Israelis & Iranians’ – that resulted in Ghanem’s suspension, after CAA wrote to KCL’s vice-chancellor and president Shitij Kapur. 

The letter, seen by Novara Media and signed by the CAA’s director of investigations and enforcement Stephen Silverman, urged Kapur to “open a full and transparent investigation into the event, with a view to immediate disciplinary action against the students involved” in order to “restore the confidence of Jewish students in the university’s ability to protect and support them”.

CAA said it was “approached by concerned students” following the event, which featured pro-Israel policy researcher Faezeh Alavi, a vocal supporter of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in conversation with the president of the KCL Geopolitics Forum. 

CAA said Alavi was “subjected to aggressive disruption”, that protesters’ actions “forced Ms Alavi off the premises”, and that the protest included “antisemitic and genocidal chanting” – namely the chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. 

CAA’s letter continued: “This intimidation must carry consequences that demonstrate your commitment to ensuring that such behaviour will not be tolerated. This is not only a matter of institutional integrity but, in failing to take appropriate action, the university risks undermining its responsibility to create a safe and inclusive environment.”

KCL’s policy is that if a student is suspended from the university for more than 60 days, it will report the withdrawal of student visa sponsorship to UK Visas and Immigration.

Ghanem told Novara Media that he’s “disgusted” by KCL. 

“I grew up my entire life in authoritarian regimes,” he said. “It makes me very sad that the institution I’ve invested tens of thousands of pounds with, the institution I’ve learned for years in, is acting like a Trumpian authoritarian regime.”

Ghanem said KCL “says it champions free speech” but in practice, the university “punished me for using mine”. 

KCL told Novara Media that it is inaccurate to suggest that “an investigation commenced after a single complaint”.

​​A spokesperson said: “The university is committed to upholding and protecting freedom of expression and the right to protest, within the law, and we take proportionate action when behaviour breaches our policies, decided upon through our robust processes and procedures.”

Ghanem was indefinitely suspended on 22 May by KCL, and told that this would be reviewed in August 2026. Correspondence seen by Novara Media shows the committee recognised that Ghanem would “need to” return to Egypt during the period of suspension. 

In his appeal, Ghanem wrote: “I find it strange that the committee appeared to be aware of my international status but not the life-threatening circumstances of my residence in the UK, which I have discussed openly with KCL on numerous occasions both before and during my enrolment here.” 

Ghanem wrote about the illegal arrests, detention and torture of his father and brother by the Egyptian National Security forces in his personal statement to KCL when he applied to study international relations. 

“As I have reiterated [to the university] on many occasions, I came to the UK to escape political persecution,” he told Novara Media. “If I return to Egypt, my family and I will certainly be subject to grievous harm and torture.” 

After Ghanem’s appeal against the decision to indefinitely suspend him was rejected in July, he launched legal action against KCL for alleged breaches of his human rights, assault and personal injury, discrimination and harassment. 

Ghanem filed a judicial review in the High Court on 3 October. In legal correspondence seen by Novara Media, Ghanem’s PTSD diagnosis was reaffirmed by a senior psychiatrist who explicitly identified the conduct of KCL security staff and the disciplinary proceedings pursued by the university as exacerbating his symptoms. 

CAA is a registered charity, but has been widely criticised over its political activity. It was a key organiser against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party, and has since been criticised by Jewish organisation Na’amod, which opposes Israel’s occupation of Palestine, as well as Jewish House of Lords members Margaret Hodge and Ruth Smeeth. 

CAA is led by Gideon Falter, who attempted to provoke a confrontation at a national pro-Palestine march in April 2024. 

Ghanem told Novara Media: “This isn’t just about one student. It’s about a university importing the politics of suppression into higher education: discipline first, rights later. It’s about a pattern where Zionist lobbying is indulged while Palestinian speech is punished, where Arab and Muslim students are marked out and portrayed as threats.”

Advocacy organisation CAGE International is supporting Ghanem in his legal action.

Naila Ahmed, CAGE International’s head of campaigns, said: “King’s College London has built its repression on the existing frameworks of racist and Islamophobic counter-extremism policies, demonstrating what we’ve always known: such powers exist primarily to crush dissent. It is shameful that one of the country’s leading institutions of learning has resorted to indefinitely suspending a student and triggering his potential deportation to a country with a deplorable human rights record. The legal challenge he has launched is crucial to ending such egregious abuses of power.”

Ghanem first came to the KCL administration’s attention for taking part in and negotiating with the university on behalf of the KCL Gaza solidarity encampment, launched in May 2024 in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Since 7 October 2023, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel – nearly a third of them children. In September, a UN commission found that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. 

Students joined the solidarity encampment and slept in tents – some for over 60 days – to put pressure on KCL to sever ties with Israeli institutions complicit in apartheid, divest from arms companies profiting Palestinian deaths, and commit to rebuilding Gaza’s education sector. KCL invests over £11.9m of its endowments in companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and over £19.4m in companies allegedly supporting or profiting from apartheid, surveillance and illegal occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

While KCL reportedly agreed to no longer invest in companies engaged in the production or distribution of controversial weapons – a partial victory for the encampment – university policy allows continued investment in ‘conventional’ weapons and component parts.

A KCL spokesperson said: “King’s maintains an ethical investment policy and specifically invests in funds that proactively screen to avoid controversial and unethical sectors and industries – like tobacco, controversial weapons and fossil fuels as well as investing in funds that actively target positive social and green investments.”