Head of Palestinian group Al-Haq barred from entering France

Head of Palestinian group Al-Haq barred from entering France Submitted by Oscar Rickett on Thu, 04/16/2026 - 12:58 Shawan Jabarin was scheduled to attend key briefings at the French parliament, foreign ministry and the Council of Europe Shawan Jabarin, the director of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, in the organisation's office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on 24 August 2022 (Abbas Momani/AFP) Off The head of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq has been refused a visa by France, preventing him from attending key briefings at the French parliament, French foreign ministry and the Council of Europe. Shawan Jabarin was expected to appear before the European Parliament's human rights committee in Strasbourg on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with officials at the French foreign ministry on Thursday.  However, the general director of Al-Haq, which is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, had his visa application denied by authorities in Europe and France for the second time since September, when the US sanctioned the Palestinian group. A representative of Al-Haq told Middle East Eye that Jabarin, who was awarded the French republic’s human rights prize in 2018 alongside Israeli rights group B'Tselem, was also scheduled to attend briefings in the French parliament and in Belgium.  France’s last-minute refusal to grant him a national visa meant that Jabarin could not attend any of these meetings. In 2022, the 66-year-old Palestinian met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace. “At a time when Palestinians across Gaza and the wider occupied Palestinian territory are subjected to Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid and genocidal erasure, it is deeply concerning that states claiming to uphold international law are restricting those working to advance accountability,” Al-Haq's representative told MEE.  'This decision stands in stark contrast to France’s prior recognition of Al-Haq’s work' - Al-Haq representative “While colleagues were able to attend some engagements and a later visa from the Netherlands allowed travel to The Hague, the disruption significantly hindered vital advocacy efforts,” they said.  “This decision stands in stark contrast to France’s prior recognition of Al-Haq’s work.” The human rights group added that “as mass atrocities continue unabated across Palestine, the international community’s failure to end the genocide is no longer passive but active”. The French interior ministry did not respond to Middle East Eye’s request for comment, or to Le Monde, which first reported the visa refusal. Sanctions on Palestinian rights groups In October, Jabarin applied to renew his Schengen visa, which allows non-EU nationals to travel freely within 29 European countries for up to 90 days. This application was rejected, Al-Haq confirmed, on the grounds that “one or more member states” considered the Palestinian to be “a threat to public order or internal security”. 'As mass atrocities continue unabated across Palestine, the international community’s failure to end the genocide is no longer passive but active' - Al-Haq Jabarin's new visa application was submitted to Dutch authorities at the beginning of the year. They told him, on the eve of his departure, that while he could travel to the Netherlands and Belgium, he would not be granted a visa for France. In 2021, the Israeli government placed six Palestinian groups, including Al-Haq, on its list of terrorist organisations. But France joined six other European countries in concluding that Israel had not provided any evidence to support its allegations. At the time, Jabarin said of Israel's then-defence minister, Benny Gantz: “Gantz says we are a terror organisation, when he himself is a war criminal."  In September last year, the US sanctioned Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), saying these Palestinian human rights groups were engaged in the “illegal targeting of Israel” by the International Criminal Court (ICC).   Exclusive: Greek ships secretly supplying Israel with oil and military cargo Read More » “These entities have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement at the time.  In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.  “The United States and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and are therefore not subject to the ICC’s authority,” Rubio said in his statement. “We oppose the ICC’s politicised agenda, overreach, and disregard for the sovereignty of the United States and that of our allies.” The Trump administration has also sanctioned 11 ICC judges, including French judge Nicolas Guillou, as well as Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories. French approach 'completely incoherent' Jabarin said France’s refusal to grant him a visa felt like a “new sanction”. Mounir Satouri, a French member of the European parliament, said that Jabarin was prevented from testifying before the parliament’s human rights committee - which Satouri chairs - in Strasbourg on account of France's decision. According to Satouri, the French interior ministry had expressed reservations about issuing the visa to Jabarin, but had not specified what those reservations were.  In 2018, @alhaq_org was awarded the French Republic’s Human Rights Prize.In 2022, Shawan Jabarin met @EmmanuelMacron at the Élysée Palace.Today, France is preventing him from testifying at the European Parliament. @jnbarrot & @francediplo must explain.https://t.co/GI7WpVpB4k— Mounir Satouri 🌍 (@MounirSatouri) April 16, 2026 In a post on X, Satouri said that French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot “must reverse this decision to avoid aligning with US sanctions”. On Thursday, he called for Barrot to “explain himself”. “France cannot speak out and act at the highest level in support of ICC judges under US sanctions while at the same time blocking European entry to NGOs that cooperate, collaborate and inform the ICC's work. It's completely incoherent,” Satouri said. 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