LONDON: A human rights group has urged Germany’s government to publicly announce if it has imposed a Schengen-wide entry ban on a British Palestinian surgeon and academic.
Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who has been volunteering in Gaza hospitals, was blocked entry to Germany and France in recent weeks and, on Thursday, Dutch officials told Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands he would not be allowed to enter the country for an event at the Palestinian Embassy in The Hague on May 15.
When blocked from entering France last Saturday, Abu-Sittah was placed in a holding zone at Charles de Gaulle airport before being expelled, according to French Sen. Raymonde Poncet Monge, who had invited him to speak at the senate.
Abu-Sittah posted to social media and told Human Rights Watch that French authorities at the airport had informed him he was barred due to a year-long ban imposed by Germany, without his knowledge.
A French official told the Associated Press that the German ban would be applied across the entire 29-country Schengen area.
“Dr. Abu-Sittah has seen firsthand the atrocities taking place in Gaza,” said Yasmine Ahmed, UK director at Human Rights Watch. “Germany should immediately explain why it has denied him entry and imposed this far-reaching ban on a leading health professional to speak in Berlin, Paris and The Hague about what he witnessed in Gaza.”
The prevention of Abu-Sittah from sharing his experience of treating patients in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war ravaging the enclave risked “undermining Germany’s commitment to protect and facilitate freedom of expression, and assembly and to nondiscrimination,” HRW said.
HRW also urged the UK and Scottish governments to push Germany into explaining Abu-Sittah’s Schengen-wide visa ban.
“In the midst of ongoing atrocities in Gaza, countries should be prioritizing ending complicity and promoting accountability,” Ahmed said. “Instead, Germany, in blocking Dr. Abu-Sittah from sharing his experience, is trying to block citizens from even hearing about the grave abuses taking place in Gaza. The UK government should immediately raise the reported ban with their German counterparts.”
