Mus'ab Hibatullah
Students Against Securitisation and Surveillance Officer
Portfolio Part-Time Officer for 2026/27.
Mus'ab was elected by SOAS students in October 2026. Part-Time Officers are voluntary roles, around 2–3 hours a week, in post until 31 July 2027.
Contact Mus'ab
Email 723838@soas.ac.uk
Manifesto
This is the manifesto Mus'ab stood on in the October 2026 election.
Mus'ab for SASS Officer
My name is Mus'ab, a final-year Politics and International Relations student, and I am running for Students Against Securitisation and Surveillance Officer to be there for every student whose right to speak, gather and organise is put at risk.
Dissent is part of SOAS's DNA. In 1959 our union raised money for Algerian victims of the liberation war against France, in 1965 it disaffiliated from the NUS, and with union support SOAS became the first English university to divest from fossil fuels. SOAS students have long been at the forefront, and that tradition is now under pressure.
Universities are clamping down on activism. At SOAS, protest on the land around campus requires 72 hours' notice and written permission under a High Court injunction, students have been suspended and expelled, and over £650,000 was spent on external security in just over a year. While these measures are presented as protecting everyone, they do not fall evenly: Palestine solidarity is the sharpest case, and Muslim, Arab, racialised and international students carry the most.
When the institution is the one suppressing students, the union's first duty is to represent them. Safeguarding the freedom to protest, organise and speak is the core of that duty.
I founded and lead Islaah Collective, was part of the Muslim Student Townhall and Census, and have campaigned on Islamophobia. I represented Islaah in the societies coalition at last year's joint rally for Palestine, and backed the Defend Dissent and NUS disaffiliation motions at the AGM.
If elected, I will:
- Deliver existing student mandates on dissent and over-securitisation.
- Stand with students facing disciplinary procedures.
- Make security spending and practices accountable.
- Organise know-your-rights and protest-support initiatives.
- Ensure the union stands firmly with its students.
SOAS built its name on dissent. Its students should not have to defend it alone.
Vote Mus'ab for SASS Officer 27-28 October soasunion.org/elections
More about this role
Read the Part-Time Officer role descriptions.