The United Kingdom has barred a prominent Swedish academic from entering the country after revoking his Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), in what he called a politically motivated crackdown on pro-Palestine speech.

The UK Home Office cancelled the ETA of Andreas Malm, an associate professor of human ecology at Lund University in Sweden and author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, on Wednesday, stating that his "presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good."

Malm was scheduled to appear on a panel discussion organised by the British socialist magazine Tribune in London next week.

Huda Ammori, cofounder of the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, is also set to appear on the panel, which will be chaired by Hala Hanina of Palestine Deep Dive.

Malm said he was deeply dismayed by the sudden ban, noting that he had been visiting the UK regularly for decades without issue.

"I have been going regularly to the UK for decades. My position on Palestine has always been public," Malm said. "I haven't said anything in public about Palestine during these intervening months or written anything about it. The only thing that could have caused this is that I was due to be on a panel on Wednesday evening, where I would talk to Huda Ammori of Palestine Action."

Malm said he had used an ETA to visit the UK in May, which allowed him to travel to the country again later in the year without seeking reauthorisation.

He said he had received no prior indication from the Home Office that his ETA was at risk before receiving an email on Wednesday confirming its revocation.

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In its email, the Home Office told Malm that if he wishes to visit the UK in the future, he must apply for a visa, after which the office will "consider your circumstances in more detail" before making a decision.

However, the government website states that the processing time for a standard visitor visa is three weeks, meaning Malm would not receive it in time for next week's panel even if his application were approved.

A widening crackdown

The cancellation of Malm's ETA comes amid a systematic and escalating crackdown on pro-Palestine activists, authors, and academics by the UK government, which has intensified since the proscription of Palestine Action in July 2025.

Earlier this year, US left-wing commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker were also barred from the UK on the same grounds that their presence "may not be conducive to the public good."

Most recently, Irish novelist Sally Rooney's books were withdrawn from sale in the UK this month due to her public support for Palestine Action. Rooney, who described Malm as a "brilliant and influential" intellectual, condemned the UK government's decision.

"For the UK government to deny him entry to Britain is not only an outrageous attack on a respected climate expert, but a sad and frightening act of cultural self-harm," she said.

The crackdown stems from the decision by Keir Starmer's Labour government to outlaw Palestine Action in July 2025, after activists from the group broke into a Royal Air Force base and sprayed red paint on two aircraft to protest against UK military support for the Israeli regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

The proscription means that expressing support for or membership of the direct action group is now a criminal offence in the UK, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to 14 years.

The ban has been widely denounced as draconian by human rights organisations.

Since the ban went into effect, police have arrested more than 3,500 people in the UK for alleged support of the group, many of them simply for holding up placards, according to rights groups.

Palestine Action has contested its proscription, but the Court of Appeal upheld it in June.

The Home Office's decision suggests the UK government, now led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, intends to continue suppressing free speech and silencing dissenting voices on Palestine.