A BLIND student who was ‘dragged out’ of the Oxford Union has been paid compensation.
Ebenezer Azamati was ‘pushed’ out of the exclusive debating chamber by security on October 17.
Footage of him being ‘manhandled’ went viral after the ex-president, Brandan McGrath - who wasn’t there that evening, claimed Mr Azamati was behaving aggressively and banned him for two terms.
But now, nearly a year later, the union have made another public statement saying: "Ebenezer Azamati, a member of the Oxford Union, sought to attend one of its debates. Mr Azamati is blind and Black. Mr Azamati was initially turned away.
"He was subsequently admitted but then steps were taken to remove him by force. He eventually left voluntarily. Shortly afterwards, disciplinary proceedings were wrongly brought against Mr Azamati alleging violence and dishonesty.
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"The allegations and initial findings against him were made public. All the allegations against him were withdrawn on appeal, the findings were set aside and he was rightly cleared of any wrongdoing."
It went on: "We accept that the allegations of dishonesty and violence made against Mr Azamati by the union have caused acute distress to [him] and serious harm to his reputation.
“We accept that those allegations are wholly unfounded and untrue, and we apologise for making the statements that contained them.
“What happened to Mr Azamati was fundamentally wrong. We apologise to him unreservedly and have made a compensatory payment to him in recognition of this.”
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