Relatives ‘surprised and shocked’ after 68-year-old Gaza woman’s Australian visa cancelled on security grounds

Fatma Almassri is one of several Gazan residents whose visas have been cancelled on national security grounds; she is now alone in Rafah, her son says. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A 68-year-old Palestinian woman with ill health has had her temporary visa cancelled on the grounds that she poses a risk to Australia’s national security.

Fatma Almassri, whose 27 children and grandchildren live in Australia, was granted a visitor visa in November. It was cancelled last week without warning, with the Department of Home Affairs stating “that the holder of the visa has been assessed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to be directly or indirectly a risk to security” and that “her presence in Australia poses a risk to the Australian community”.