The news that Palestinian photojournalist Hamde Abu Rahma has been granted a visa to allow him to enter the UK is welcome.
It comes too late, sadly, for him to take part in this month's Solas Festival in Perth, or a number of other Scottish events to which he had been invited in June.
His initial visa application was refused by the Home Office, as it was last year when a scheduled appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe had to be cancelled.
The 28 year-old is an award-winning photographer from Bil'in, near Ramallah, took up photography following the death of his cousin - shot, he says, at the hands of the Israeli Army.
The SNP MP Tommy Sheppard has been vocal in describing the Home Office's objections as 'bogus'.
The Home Office's stated concern was that Mr Abu Rahma had no means of supporting himself in the UK and therefore might take part in "prohibited activities" such as getting married, studying or taking a job. But his supporters fear other concerns lay behind the refusal, and he was being rejected to prevent him sharing his work and his views on life in occupied Palestine.
If this is the case, it is wrong. Mr Abu Rahma should be welcome, just as the Israeli Incubator Theatre group - controversial performers at the Fringe in Edinburgh in 2014, had a right to perform despite demonstrations aimed at preventing them. Some may not like his viewpoing, but freedom of speech should not be trumped by any notional 'right' of others not to be offended.
The Home Office now appears satisfied Mr Abu Rahma will be financially supported while in the UK, which is strange as the support and accommodation being provided by his backers is the same as was evidenced in his initial application and that which saw him invited to Edinburgh last year.
But the decision is the right one, and it is to be hoped his visit to Scotland can be rearranged at an early opportunity.
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