Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, the President of the University of Glasgow, was returned to London from Charles de Gaulle Airport on Saturday evening after being barred from entering France due to a Schengen entry ban issued by Berlin. The British-Palestinian doctor announced via the "X" platform earlier: "I am at Charles de Gaulle Airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I was supposed to speak at the French Senate today. They say the Germans have banned my entry to Europe for a year."
A police source confirmed that a "Schengen entry ban" issued by Germany prevented him from entering Paris. Another police source reported that Abu Sitta was returned to London in the late afternoon. In mid-April, Abu Sitta and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis were denied entry to Germany where they were supposed to participate in the “Palestinian Conference” in Berlin, which was suspended by the police after one hour. In response to inquiries about Varoufakis, German authorities stated that the action aimed to "prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda."
In a video he broadcast on the same day, Abu Sitta explained that he had been barred from entering Germany "throughout April." He also condemned "the suppression of freedom of expression in Germany," which he described as "an accomplice of the Israeli army in silencing witnesses of the genocide" in Gaza. Abu Sitta, who had spent 43 days treating injured individuals in Gaza, particularly at the Shifa Medical Complex, was supposed to participate in a conference at the Senate organized by environmentalist senator Raymonde Poncet-Mong.
In a comment on this situation, Senator Guillaume Gontard wrote on "X": "It is a scandal. Ghassan Abu Sitta, the plastic and reconstructive surgeon who worked in Gaza, is prevented from participating in a conference at the Senate." The conference organizers attempted to intervene by contacting the offices of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, but to no avail. A French government source clarified that if someone is indicated in the Schengen information system by a member state as "prohibited from entry," that individual is not allowed to enter any Schengen Area countries.
