A RECTOR of a Scottish university has been denied entry into France where he was due to give testimony on Gaza’s healthcare system and Israeli attacks against it.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a renowned plastic surgeon, was elected as Glasgow University’s rector in March.
However, in April the British-Palestinian doctor was “forcibly prevented” from entering Germany where he was due to host a conference to discuss his work as a surgeon in Gaza.
The Palestine Congress event was later disbanded by German police.
Now, he has once again been denied entry into the EU after arriving into Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.
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Abu-Sittah was due to appear in-front of the French Senate to provide testimony on Gaza’s healthcare system and the impact Israeli attacks have had on continuing provision of medical care.
But upon arrival into France he was informed by authorities that Germany had enforced a Schengen-wide ban on his entry into the EU.
He remains under French detention and has had his mobile phone seized.
In October and November last year Abu-Sittah spent seven weeks operating from Gaza’s Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli Baptist Hospitals, giving him key insight into the conditions faced by doctors practising in Gaza.
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Tayab Ali, the director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), said refusal to allow Abu-Sittah entry into France amounted to a crackdown on free speech.
“German politicians have repeatedly claimed that Israel’s security is Germany’s ‘reason of state’,” he said.
“They are behaving as such: to shield Israel from criticism, they are denying the rights to speech and movement of a renowned doctor, who experienced first-hand Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system.
“ICJP are instructing lawyers in France and Germany to see that the German’s authoritarian crackdown on free speech and witness testimony won’t stand.”
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