Defend Mohammad Khatib and all Palestinian refugees

On August 6 2025, the Belgian state revoked the refugee status of Mohammed Khatib, a Palestinian refugee and the European coördinator of Samidoun.

This clear escalation of political repression from the Belgian state, comes in the light of the massive student and youth-led mobilizations that have spread across Belgian universities, high schools, and on the streets. From ULB to KU Leuven, and from Liège to the streets of Brussels where Palestinian refugees are leading the daily demonstrations at Bourse, thousands of people have stood up to demand an end to Belgium’s active role in the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.

The revocation of Mohammed Khatib’s refugee status is clearly an attempt to crush this growing movement that has exposed the Belgian state’s complicity in genocide, and has done so with a clear vision of total liberation from the river to the sea and unequivocal support for the Palestinian resistance and the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners.

We know that the ability to speak out against imperialism and colonialism are not granted to us by the state. They are the results of generations of struggle and are continuously under attack by fascist, colonial governments such as Belgium. The Belgian state trying to strip a Palestinian refugee of legal protection for speaking out against the occupation of his homeland and the genocide of his people, is therefore just another attempt to show us that those who fight colonialism will be treated as criminals. But we will not stop resisting: we will only intensify our struggle, because we know that our enemies fear the fact that we are organized, united, and as politically clear as ever.

Tariq el Tahrir Youth and Student Network expresses their support for the Palestinian diaspora and their supporters in Belgium that are continuously on the frontlines of the struggle against genocide and the occupation. We call on all students, youth, workers and organizations to defend Mohammed Khatib and all Palestinian refugees across Europe facing criminalization, and to continue intensifying the struggle for an end to the genocide, an end to the occupation and a liberated Palestine from the river to the sea.