Middle East Eye journalist refused entry to UK for awards ceremony

Middle East Eye journalist refused entry to UK for awards ceremony MEE staff on Mon, 06/15/2026 - 12:01 Mohammed Amin had been short-listed by One World Awards for his reporting on the war in Sudan, including the bloody siege of el-Fasher Mohammed Amin collects the Martin Adler Prize at the Rory Peck Awards on London's Southbank in November 2022 (Rory Peck Awards) Off MEE correspondent Mohammed Amin has been refused a visa to travel to the UK and attend a prestigious journalism awards ceremony in London this week. Amin was due to be present at the One World Media Awards, to be held next Wednesday, where he has been nominated for the Journalist of the Year Award for his reporting from Sudan. But on Thursday he was told by the Home Office that his application for an eight-day visa had been refused because it believed he did not have a genuine reason for coming to the UK and that he would not leave the country afterwards. Amin, who is Sudanese and has been to Britain many times, including to receive other prestigious journalism awards, said he was angered by the decision, which he called unreasonable. “There’s a contradiction between British journalists, who consider what is happening in Sudan, and the UK government, which organises conferences about Sudan [in London] but denies visas for journalists.” He said that refusing him and other Sudanese entry to the country was evidence of the huge ignorance about the crisis in Sudan, where he said people suffer from war, hunger and displacement. Amin said Sudan's war had been overshadowed by conflicts in the likes of Ukraine, Iran and elsewhere. Chinwe Kalu-Uma, One World Media's interim director told MEE: “It is deeply disappointing that Mohammed, nominated for our Journalist of the Year Award, who has at great risk continued to report from inside Sudan so that the world might pay attention, has been denied a visa to travel to London to receive that recognition. “His absence from our London ceremony is itself a story about the barriers Sudanese people face, not only in their own country, but in being seen and heard beyond it.” David Hearst, editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye, said: “That Britain of all places should deny a visa to an award-winning Sudanese journalist after a war that has devastated the country defies belief. “Britain has a historic responsibility that the truth comes out about what is happening in Sudan and it is failing on all these fronts. Mohammed’s work should be encouraged and praised by the British government, and he should not be treated as an unwelcome guest.” UK Home Office: No right to appeal In its decision, the UK Home Office told Amin that it was “not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry for a purpose that is permitted under the visitor route, or that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit”. This was despite Amin being sponsored throughout his visit by Middle East Eye and also having an invitation from the award organisers. The Home Office added: “In relation to this decision, there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review." Applicants from Sudan wishing to enter the UK have faced increased barriers and scrutiny since the outbreak of war in April 2023. I woke to the sounds of war in Sudan. I’ve been running ever since Read More » In March 2026, the UK government introduced a visa brake, preventing any student applications from outside the country for nationals of Sudan as well as Afghanistan, Cameroon and Myanmar. Even for non-students, applying for a visa from Sudan has become extremely difficult. Amin said that the process discriminated against applicants from Sudan like himself who had been displaced. With the British Embassy in Khartoum temporarily closed due to the war, Amin said he had to travel to the British High Commission in Uganda to be interviewed in person for his application. In November 2022, Amin visited London and attended the Rory Peck Awards, where he was honoured with the Martin Adler Prize for his reporting on Wagner Group massacres in Sudan and the Sudanese coup. On that occasion, Britain's then-Conservative government issued him a visa without hesitation. The Rory Peck judges said: “Whether at protest barricades in Khartoum, decimated villages in Darfur or in the middle of military crackdowns, you will always find Mohammed Amin as one of the first journalists on the scene.” During the past year, Amin has reported across Sudan on the aftermath of the bloody siege of el-Fasher, how the civil war has been fuelled by the drug captagon and the targeting of the Kanabi community by all sides in the conflict. His report of how the village of al-Tekeina resisted sustained attacks by the RSF went viral on Sudanese media and was translated by several Arabic sites. The next day, a delegation led by the prime minister of Sudan visited al-Tekeina, the village’s first official visit in more than six decades, and promised to help the reconstruction. A Home Office spokesperson told MEE: “We carefully consider each case on its individual merits and in line with published policies. It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases.” Sudan war News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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