London, 21st\u00a0April 2026\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) condemns the\u00a0revelations in a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates that\u00a0identified\u00a0that\u00a012 British universities\u00a0paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to \u201cspy\u201d on student protesters and academics,\u00a0including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The investigation revealed\u00a0evidence that Horus Security Consultancy Limited\u00a0\u201ctrawled through student social media feeds and conducted secret counter-terror threat assessments on behalf of some of the UK\u2019s most elite institutions.\u201d It is an appalling\u00a0yet unsurprising\u00a0revelation that\u00a0speaks to the increasing patterns of hostility, aggression, and crackdown on pro-Palestine protests and organisers in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This crackdown is\u00a0evident\u00a0in the UK government\u2019s recent\u00a0cumulative\u00a0impact amendment<\/a>\u00a0to the Crime and Policing Bill\u00a0which\u00a0is an affront to the rights to freedom of expression and assembly across Britain and will purposefully affect pro-Palestine protests.\u00a0The normalisation of criminalising dissent in the UK can also be seen in\u00a0the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Order Act 2023, the proscription of Palestine Action in 2025, and the Metropolitan Police\u2019s banning of certain pro-Palestine chants.\u00a0As\u00a0with student encampments, universities are once again a particular flashpoint for this crackdown, with students and academics targeted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Horus\u00a0Security Consultancy Limited\u00a0describes itself as a\u00a0\u201cleading intelligence\u201d firm and has been paid,\u00a0as the investigation\u00a0by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates\u00a0uncovered,\u00a0at least\u00a0\u00a3440,000 by universities since 2022.\u00a0The list includes the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London (UCL), King\u2019s College London (KCL), and the London School of Economics (LSE).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That the firm was paid by some of Britain\u2019s leading universities\u00a0to\u00a0monitor\u00a0students and protest groups is\u00a0indicative\u00a0of Orwellian levels of surveillance and is a further clampdown on activism and dissent\u00a0across\u00a0Britain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Gina Romero, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, has\u00a0since\u00a0pointed to the \u201cprofound legal concerns\u201d\u00a0regarding\u00a0the use of AI to harvest and analyse student data under the guise of open-source intelligence\u00a0, allowing for\u00a0excessive\u00a0\u00a0data on students to be collected, by companies free from public scrutiny, and used for purposes\u00a0that remain unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lack of public scrutiny faced by private companies such as Horus is deeply concerning and the\u00a0attacks on\u00a0pro-Palestinian\u00a0student activism\u00a0in\u00a0the UK\u00a0feeds into a wider crackdown on civil\u00a0liberties\u00a0we are seeing\u00a0across the\u00a0country.\u00a0<\/p>\n In line with these disturbing trends, a\u00a0report by the European Legal Support Centre published in February this year found that academics and students were more likely to face repression for their pro-Palestine views than any other group in\u00a0the UK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00d3rlaith\u00a0Roe, ICJP\u2019s Public Affairs and Communications Officer, said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u00a0is deeply frightening that some of\u00a0the UK\u2019s\u00a0most\u00a0respected\u00a0universities\u00a0have\u00a0paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to\u00a0surveil\u00a0their own students and academics, particularly those in the pro-Palestine movement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The UN Special Rapporteur\u2019s warning that this amounts to a \u2018state of terror\u2019 should sound alarm bells for anyone who values freedom of speech and assembly in this country. This is not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern of targeted monitoring of dissent in the UK \u2013 and without urgent scrutiny, it will not be the last.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n ENDS\u00a0<\/p>\n Notes for Editors:\u00a0<\/p>\n The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For more information, to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n