Elham Asaad Buaras
King’s College London (KCL) has lifted the year-long suspension of Egyptian student Usama Ghanem, allowing him to return to his studies after disciplinary action over his pro-Palestine activism led to the withdrawal of his student visa sponsorship and put him at risk of deportation.
The decision, announced on September 10, comes more than a year after Ghanem was suspended and barred from campus.
KCL told Ghanem that “there is no reason for [his] suspension or exclusion to remain in place”, according to the Association for Activism for Palestine (ASAP), which welcomed the decision.
Ghanem was suspended in May 2025 following protests including a Gaza solidarity encampment in May 2024, a KCL Alumni Awards protest in June 2024, a demonstration over an Israeli-Iranian relations event in February 2025, and protests around the London Defence Conference in May 2025.
His suspension led KCL to withdraw its sponsorship of his student visa, putting him at risk of having to leave Britain and return to Egypt.
Ghanem said he feared returning because he and members of his family had previously been imprisoned and tortured by Egyptian authorities over their political opposition to the government.
The case drew support from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and climate activist Greta Thunberg. In October 2025, Ghanem launched a judicial review challenging his suspension.
KCL has rejected claims that Ghanem was disciplined for his political views, saying in 2025 that students were not sanctioned for “lawful affiliations” or lawful protests, but for alleged breaches of university rules.
The case gained wider significance after an investigation by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates, published in July 2026, found that KCL had opened disciplinary investigations against at least 26 students over pro-Palestine activity between October 2023 and November 2025 — the highest number among the UK universities surveyed.
Six students had been sanctioned over protests linked to the June 2024 alumni event, the February 2025 discussion and the May 2025 London Defence Conference.
Across the sector, 42 of 156 universities responding to freedom-of-information requests had opened investigations into as many as 236 students and staff over pro-Gaza activity. KCL recorded 26 student cases, followed by University College London with 24, Oxford with 18 and Cardiff with 12.
Ghanem’s case has also been linked by campaigners to KCL’s relationships with the defence and technology industries.
On February 6, 2026, KCL’s University and College Union branch said the university’s investment in Palantir had almost quadrupled between the second quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2025. The union also criticised investments in companies it said were linked to Israeli settlements. KCL has defended its ethical investment policy.
In May 2026, KCL announced plans to merge with Cranfield University, a specialist institution with longstanding links to the UK defence sector. Campaigners have cited the proposed merger, as well as KCL’s defence-related research and investments, in calls for the university to sever such ties.
Ghanem welcomed the decision to lift his suspension.
“We took on a 200-year-old institution and we won after sustained public and legal pressure for a year,” he said. “This sets a new precedent to universities that crackdown on pro-Palestine speech and protest, [which] ought to be overturned.”
An ASAP spokesperson said the decision was a victory for students challenging universities over their links to Israel’s war in Gaza.
“This is a victory for every student who challenged their university’s role in the genocide in Gaza,” the spokesperson said. “KCL attempted to intimidate its students into silence, but today, wehave seen that when you stand unwaveringly on the side of justice – you win.”
