The Arabic poet Soukaina Habiballah has been granted a visa to enter the UK following a u-turn by the Home Office.
As reported by The Herald, the Moroccan poet was due to appear on Sunday 10 March, at the Byre Theatre’s Main Auditorium as part of the StAnza festival in St Andrews but was denied a visa.
Organisers said Ms Habiballah had been denied a visa to enter the UK as the Home Office rejected her application on the basis she could potentially become an illegal immigrant.
After being approached for comment by The Herald, the Home Office said: "After further information was provided this visa has now been granted.
“Applications must be considered on their individual merits, based on the information provided and in accordance with the immigration rules.”
Read More: Soukaina Habiballah barred from Scots festival by Home Office
Ms Habiballah's work has been translated into a number of languages, and she's won several awards including the 2015 Buland Al Haidari Prize for young Arab poets.
Commenting on the initial decision to deny her entry, artistic director of StAnza Ryan van Winkle said: "We are heartbroken for Soukaina Habiballah and deeply disappointed by the UK government's refusal to grant her a visa.
"Countless resources went into programming her participation in our festival, as well as her first-ever tour of Scotland, working closely with our partners at Highlight Arts and senior figures in the British Council to secure her attendance.
"These capricious decisions by the Home Office not only undermine cross-cultural collaboration but also stifle the sharing of international art at a time when it's needed most.
"Soukaina submitted all the required paperwork, including around 35 official documents, and provided proof of her status as a leading Arabic poet with work commitments both in Morocco and internationally.
"Yet, the Home Office ignored her considerable talent and body of work and saw fit to consider her a potential illegal immigrant, despite having no evidence that this has ever been an issue.
"Their scepticism regarding why an artist or her calibre would leave her family, home and networks to move to the UK is beyond our comprehension.
"It's insulting and humiliating to see acclaimed artists like Soukaina face such obstacles.
"It's imperative for us, and other festivals dealing with similar decisions from the Home Office, that the UK government rethinks its visa policies to ensure the vibrancy of our cultural sector and the value international artists bring to local audiences who otherwise would not encounter their vital work."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel