Internet postings do not justify an entry ban to the Schengen area. The British-Palestinian doctor Abu-Sittah should be silenced, criticises his lawyer.

The Potsdam Administrative Court has ruled in summary proceedings that an entry ban issued by the Federal Police for the British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful. This is clear from the six-page decision, which is available to “nd”. It states that the allegations made by the Federal Police were not serious enough.

Abu-Sittah has also been Rector of the University of Glasgow since April. He was announced as a speaker at the “Palestine Congress” in Berlin on 14 April which was dissolved by the police. There, Abu-Sittah was supposed to report on his humanitarian work for the victims of the Gaza war in October and November 2023. However, the Federal Police Headquarters based in Potsdam already refused him entry at Berlin Airport, basing its decision on Article 24 of the EU Regulation on the operation of the Schengen Information System (SIS). This regulation stipulates cases in which a foreigner can be prohibited from crossing the border or staying in the entire Schengen area.

France and the Netherlands have also recently banned Abu-Sittah from entering the country due to the German SIS entry. However, such an entry is only permitted if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person concerned has committed or intends to commit a serious criminal offence on the territory of a member state. The offences of “incitement of the people” or “rewarding and approving criminal offences” cited by the Federal Police do not fulfil this requirement, according to the judges in Potsdam.

To justify the refusal of entry, the Federal Police referred to not further specified postings on X. According to the Administrative Court, however, this information was not sufficient. There are no indications that Abu-Sittah “will again write such posts on the territory of a member state”, the decision says, and continues: “Especially since the posts shown were probably made in the Gaza area.”

The German Federal Police also claimed that, according to “openly available information”, Abu-Sittah had “intensive contacts” with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is categorised as a terrorist organisation in the EU. However, the Potsdam judges criticised the lack of “any indication as to what specific information is involved in this regard”. There were also no concrete indications that the doctor was a member of a criminal and terrorist organisation abroad, they explain.

An appeal against the Administrative Court’s decision is possible. However, even in the event of a further challenge before the Higher Administrative Court, the urgent decision must be implemented by the Federal Police for the time being.

“The decision clearly shows that the entry ban against Abu-Sittah was a politically motivated measure,” explains defence lawyer Alexander Gorski, who supported the doctor in his summary proceedings in Potsdam. The Federal Police deliberately did not comply with the law, he says, and continues: “Abu-Sittah was to be silenced and prevented by all means from speaking about his experiences as a doctor in Gaza.”

Published in German in „nd“.

Image: Following the forced dissolution of the Palestine Congress, Ghassan Abu-Sittah was also unable to present his report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza (Montecruz Foto).