Middle East Eye journalist refused entry to UK for awards ceremony

Middle East Eye journalist refused entry to UK for awards ceremony Submitted by MEE staff on Mon, 06/15/2026 - 12:01 Mohammed Amin had been short-listed by One World Awards for his reporting on the war in Sudan, including the bloody siege of el-Fasher Mohammed Amin collects the Martin Adler Prize at the Rory Peck Awards on London's Southbank in November 2022 (Rory Peck Awards) Off MEE correspondent Mohammed Amin has been refused a visa to travel to the UK and attend a prestigious journalism awards ceremony in London this week. Amin was due to be present at the One World Media Awards , to be held next Wednesday, where he has been nominated for the Journalist of the Year Award for his reporting from Sudan . But on Thursday he was told by the Home Office that his application for an eight-day visa had been refused because it believed he did not have a genuine reason for coming to the UK and that he would not leave the country afterwards. Amin, who is Sudanese and has been to Britain many times, including to receive other prestigious journalism awards, said he was angered by the decision, which he called unreasonable. “There’s a contradiction between British journalists, who consider what is happening in Sudan, and the UK government, which organises conferences about Sudan [in London] but denies visas for journalists.” He said that refusing him and other Sudanese entry to the country was evidence of the huge ignorance about the crisis in Sudan, where he said people suffer from war, hunger and displacement. Amin said Sudan's war had been overshadowed by conflicts in the likes of Ukraine, Iran and elsewhere. Chinwe Kalu-Uma , One World Media's interim director told MEE: “It is deeply disappointing that Mohammed, nominated for our Journalist of the Year Award, who has at great risk continued to report from inside Sudan so that the world might pay attention, has been denied a visa to travel to London to receive that recognition. “His absence from our London ceremony is itsel