Al Jazeera reports on Cardiff Metropolitan University ‘spying’ on pro-Palestine students

Cardiff Metropolitan University has been named among twelve British universities which paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to “spy” on student protesters and academics, including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, according to an investigation by Al Jazeera.

The joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates uncovered damning evidence that Horus Security Consultancy Limited trawled through student social media feeds and conducted secret counter-terror threat assessments on behalf of some of the UK’s elite institutions, with Cardiff Metropolitan the only Welsh location involved.

Al Jazeera share that “leading intelligence” firm Horus was paid a minimum of £440,000 by universities since 2022.

According to Liberty Investigates’ Aaron Walawalkar, Cardiff Metropolitan University is one of 12 universities which paid the firm to monitor campus protest activity. Others include the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London (UCL), King’s College London (KCL), the University of Sheffield, the University of Leicester, the University of Nottingham.

Among those monitored were a pro-Gaza PhD student at the London School of Economics and a Palestinian academic invited to give a guest lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University, according to internal documents.

In October 2024, the University of Bristol provided the firm with a list of student protest groups including pro-Palestinian and animal rights activists that it wished to receive alerts about, an internal university email suggests. There is no suggestion that the activity is illegal.

The findings have come to light after Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates submitted freedom of information (FOI) requests to more than 150 universities.

Horus

Horus was established in 2006 as a project within the University of Oxford’s security team by former Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Whiteley.

In recent years, Whiteley has publicly blamed the rising number and size of pro-Gaza demonstrations in the West on a “Russian/Iranian orchestrated media campaign”. He has further called for non-British protesters “who misbehave” to be deported from the UK.

Despite repeated requests, Horus did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions about the allegations listed in their article.

AJ Exclusive: Twelve UK universities paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to ‘spy’ on student protesters and academics, including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, it can be revealed https://t.co/HQKh2xYY5q pic.twitter.com/Va4mHRdp5W

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 20, 2026

Walawalkar writes: “On its website, Horus states that it adheres to ‘the strongest ethics in whatever we do, and are fully transparent and legally compliant in whatever territory we operate in’.

“Seven of Horus’s university clients refused freedom of information requests from Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates for copies of the briefings they have received from the firm. Four said they were confidential – despite ostensibly being based on information already in the public domain.

“Six argued that making them freely available would undermine Horus’s business model. Section 43 of the UK FOI Act does provide an exemption allowing public bodies to refuse to disclose information considered commercially sensitive. This could be information that would prejudice a third party’s commercial interests, such as contractors like Horus.

But other documents and emails obtained via FOI from three universities – Bristol, LSE and Manchester Metropolitan – shine some light on the role the private intelligence company plays in Britain’s crackdown on campus activism.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the UK’s largest union for lecturers and university staff, the University and College Union (UCU), told Al Jazeera it was “shameful” that institutions had “wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds spying on their own students”.

Walawalkar writes: “The UK’s 2015 Counter-Terrorism and Security Act requires universities to consider the risk of external speakers expressing “extremist” views, which could risk drawing people into terrorism.

“This requirement falls under the UK government’s Prevent counter-terror programme, and is the justification MMU provides for its actions.

“However, Amnesty International and several other rights groups have criticised the Prevent programme for disproportionately targeting Muslims and lacking transparency.”

Read Aaron Walawalkar’s report for Liberty and Al Jazeera in full here.

Nation Cymru has asked Cardiff Metropolitan University to clarify why they used the services of Horus, and to explain why pro-Palestinian students, events and speakers in particular were the focus of the so-called spying. The university has yet to respond.