SOAS Expels Student Activist Over Pro-Palestine Advocacy

According to Haya, the university's email stated the reason for her expulsion was that "she met the allegations of harassment, abusive behaviour, and operational obstruction." However, she claimed she was expelled for standing up against the "live-streamed genocide."

According to Maktoob Media, Haya, who enrolled at SOAS in September 2023, said she had expected to "receive an anti-colonial education while having a space to speak up against injustice."

She added, "But I soon came to realise that the so-called world university and its reputation are deeply flawed. Behind its decolonial façade, SOAS is revealed to be a tool of empire and imperialism."

Her disciplinary record, which she calls her "journey of repression," began in June 2024 when she was disciplined for taking part in an alleged "unauthorised protest."

This was followed by a nine-month suspension for questioning Vice Chancellor Adam Habib about the university's alleged complicity in genocide, reported Maktoob Media. Haya asserts she was suspended simply for being near an incident involving the Students’ Union CEO, Irfan Zaman, in which she was not directly involved.

Her final expulsion reportedly came after she posted a video that she describes as political commentary. In the video, she criticised the Students' Union, specifically a representative named Safia, who she said "failed to uphold her political manifesto."

The SOAS Liberated Zone, a student group, noted that another student, Tara Mann, has also been banned from campus for six months for "simply trying to hold the executive board accountable."quoted Maktoob Media 

Reportedly the group described the university's actions as "attempts to silence the student body, using Haya as an example to scare students into silence and complicity, a blatant attack on the freedom of speech."

They added, “Haya’s expulsion is a brutal reminder that SOAS, despite its facade, serves as a tool of the empire and represses those who oppose it.”

In an act of solidarity, Asim Qureshi, Research Director of the advocacy organisation CAGE International, burned his Master of Laws certificate from SOAS. He declared, “I don’t want to be part of a university that markets decoloniality.”