King’s College London Used Private Security to Monitor Campaign in Support of Suspended Pro-Palestine Student

King’s College London (KCL) used a private security firm to monitor a campaign in support of a student suspended in relation to pro-Palestine activism, who has since been readmitted to the university.

Usama Ghanem, 22, was suspended and excluded from campus on misconduct charges last year, with his visa sponsorship withdrawn. Following a review, Ghanem’s suspension has now been lifted and he has reenrolled for the 2026/27 academic year to complete his BA in International Relations.

KCL, a prestigious Russell Group university, used Horus Security Consultancy Ltd – a company run by former military intelligence officials – to gather information on the student campaign to reinstate Ghanem. 

In data from a subject access request, Horus was found to have passed information about demonstrations calling for Ghanem’s reinstatement to the university, including event posters, timings, locations and the number of students in attendance. These protests also called for KCL to divest from arms and tech companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

12 British universities, including KCL, paid Horus to monitor pro-Palestine campus protest activity, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates revealed in April. 

Horus was found to have been paid a total of £443,943 between January 2022 and March 2025 to provide intelligence to universities in the UK on a range of areas.

A KCL spokesperson said: “We have not, and would not, employ a service to gather information on any individual student, we do not share any personal data of students or staff with Horus, and all information collated by Horus is already publicly available elsewhere. 

“Like many universities, we use Horus as a horizon scanning tool for updates on events on or near our campuses, including protests on any subject. This allows us to make sure we have the right resources in place to ensure the events can continue safely and within the bounds of the law, as is our duty of care. 

“We are proud of King’s long history of protest, and we will continue to uphold the rights of our students to lawful freedom of expression.”

Ghanem said the university’s use of Horus “speaks volumes about the sense of threat KCL perceives from the very students it is meant to serve”. 

KCL was accused of putting Ghanem’s life in danger by withdrawing his visa sponsorship following pressure from the pro-Israel charity Campaign Against Antisemitism, Novara Media reported last autumn. The university was aware that he was at risk of imprisonment and torture if forced to return to his home country of Egypt. 

KCL upheld charges of misconduct – including causing injury to a security guard, “acting in an intimidating and hostile manner” and reputational damage to the university during protest activity – against Ghanem at two hearings in 2025.

Ghanem’s suspension was reviewed last month and KCL found “there is no reason for your suspension or exclusion to remain in place”. KCL has also confirmed to Ghanem that he will receive the confirmation of acceptance for studies number needed for a new student visa. 

KCL’s spokesperson added: “Mr Ghanem was not suspended for expressing his beliefs, but for behaviour last year which caused harm and restricted the rights of others to their freedom of expression.”

Celebrating his reinstatement, Ghanem told Novara Media: “The injustice prevalent throughout this process has felt extremely bitter, but King’s needed to be challenged for their role in the Gaza genocide. 

“And now I can say that we took on a 200-year-old institution and won after a sustained public and legal campaign for the past year.”

Certain conditions for Ghanem staying a student at KCL remain in place, including a ban on attending any KCL open day for prospective students; protesting outside of designated and approved areas; using any loudspeaker or other device to create excessive and disruptive noise; and breaching the KCL permissible protest policy.

KCL was found to have disciplined more students engaged in pro-Palestine protest activity between October 2023 and November 2025 than most other British universities, according to Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates. 

The UN special rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Gina Romero, called this “utterly disturbing” and a “weaponisation of university disciplinary frameworks”. 

The King’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Forum’s report from November 2024 found that the university had invested £20m of its endowment in companies “complicit in genocide, apartheid, illegal occupation, and ecocide”, including tech firm Palantir.