Swedish academic says he’s been barred from UK ahead of appearance with Palestine Action founder

Swedish climate academic Andreas Malm says he has been denied entry to Britain, where he was due to speak alongside the co-founder of Palestine Action, a group banned as a terrorist organization.

Malm, an academic at Sweden’s Lund University, has been a vocal critic of Israel and expressed strong support for the Palestinian movement.

Britain’s Home Office says it does not comment on individual cases.

Malm tells BBC Radio 4 he received a message from the Home Office saying his “presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good” with no further clarification.

He says he suspects he was barred because he had been due to appear at an event next Wednesday organized by a socialist magazine alongside Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, where he says he had been due to speak about the war in Iran. He adds he has not publicly endorsed, promoted or financially supported Palestine Action.

“I’ve been going back and forth to the UK for years, for decades, to do my scientific work, my archival research, my participation in conferences. This is the main purpose of my visit to the UK this time too,” Malm says.

“What this means is that I am banned from doing my work as an intellectual, as an academic.”