UK Home Office Cancels Entry for Swedish Pro-Palestine Academic Andreas Malm

Pro-Palestine Swedish academic Andreas Malm, who was planning to travel to the United Kingdom, has been denied entry, with the British government saying his 'presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good'. The Home Office cancelled Malm's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on Wednesday, according to an email seen by Al Jazeera.

The decision came a week before Malm was due to appear on a panel in London organised by the British socialist magazine Tribune. Huda Ammori, cofounder of Palestine Action — which the UK has proscribed as a 'terrorist' group — is also due to appear on the panel, to be chaired by Hala Hanina of Palestine Deep Dive.

Malm told Al Jazeera he believes his ETA was cancelled because he was due to appear on the panel. He has contacted the Home Office for an explanation but has yet to receive a response.

Malm said he has been travelling regularly to the UK for decades and that his position on Palestine has always been public. His latest visit was in May. In his words, he has said or written nothing in public about Palestine in the intervening months; the only change is that he was due to sit on a panel with Ammori.

Malm said he had used an ETA to visit the UK in May, which would have allowed him to travel again later in the year without reauthorisation. He had received no indication that his ETA was at risk of cancellation before Wednesday's email confirmed it had been revoked.

In its email, the Home Office told Malm that if he wishes to visit the UK he needs to apply for a visa, after which it will consider his circumstances in more detail before deciding. However, the government website puts the processing time for a standard visitor visa at three weeks — meaning that even if approved, Malm could not receive it in time for next week's panel.

Travellers from countries whose nationals do not require a visa to visit the UK generally need an ETA; these include countries in Europe, the United States and Canada. Al Jazeera contacted the Home Office to ask for clarification on the cancellation and whether it was connected to next week's event, but had received no reply at the time of publication.

The cancellation comes amid a wider crackdown on pro-Palestine activists by the UK government that began under then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, was prime minister when Palestine Action was proscribed last year, placing the group on the same legal list as al-Qaeda and ISIL under UK law — a move condemned by rights groups including Amnesty International. Most recently, Irish novelist Sally Rooney's books were withdrawn from sale in the UK this month because of her public support for Palestine Action.

Malm told Al Jazeera the move is about constantly diminishing the room for the exchange of opinion and ideas and painting people as beyond the pale. In his words, it is a drift towards authoritarianism that did not begin with him and will not end with him, and being deemed a threat to the public good for holding a conversation with someone from Palestine Action amounts to guilt by association.

Gareth Dale, reader in political economy at Brunel University of London, told Al Jazeera the Home Office decision suggests the government of Prime Minister Andy Burnham intends to continue suppressing free speech. In his words, barring Malm — one of the world's foremost campaigners on climate breakdown and the genocide in Palestine — is a monstrous attempt to suppress free speech, and no reason was given for the ban.