It said “many of the issues raised by the Home Office relate to historic international student recruitment activity”, and that it had been given 20 days to respond before it was officially revoked.
The Home Office and the university told The Telegraph the suspension had been unrelated to Hammami or the Flydubai attack, which failed after a passenger took control of the plane.
The Telegraph understands that there were no concerns raised or complaints made about him during his time at BNU. However, the university told The Telegraph that, in response to the “material now emerging”, it would be conducting a review of his time there.
The Conservatives have now called for greater vetting of international students enrolled in online courses following the attack.
Hammami is accused of using the Boeing 737 Max’s crash axe to attack Smit Machchhar, the plane’s Indian pilot, in what the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general has described as an attempted terrorist attack. Israel’s defence minister called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack”.
On Thursday, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Hammami had discussed killing Jewish people online, saying: “His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalised into jihadist ideology. He talks about killing Jews.”
The Telegraph has analysed more than 2000 posts published from November 28, 2021 to August 10, 2022 using a Twitter account that appears to be strongly linked to Hammami.
Using the name “Pilot Hamam al-Hammami” and handle @PilotHamam, the owner of the account describes themselves as an Omani civilian pilot from Muscat and gives biographical details matching Hammami, including that his mother was Syrian.
The posts include repeated endorsements of violence against women, support for severe punishments justified by reference to Islamic law, homophobic abuse and sexual humiliation.
In one exchange, the account told a woman: “I’d stomp on your head, wipe the floor with you, make you an example to others, and then divorce you :).”
In another post, the account appeared to express support for Russia while endorsing violence against a woman.
Replying to a discussion about a man striking a woman, he said: “He gave her a pre-emptive slap so she would redefine her boundaries, just as Russia slapped Ukraine to adjust its borders :).”
In the same exchange, the account linked to Hammami said that if the woman “so much as breathed” around the man, he would “stomp on her head”.
In a separate post, a man said he had discovered his wife talking “badly” about him to her boss and asked whether he could make a complaint.
The account responded: “Yes, but first you have to stomp on her head, make her life miserable and make her taste the bitterness of what she did.”
Elsewhere, he called a man a “coward and a scoundrel” for failing to violently assault his wife after catching her speaking to another man.
He said: “Anyone else would have stomped on her head and made her an example to others.”
In another exchange, the account said women had become emboldened because they were “safe from punishment”, before saying that in parts of the Middle East, a woman who displeased her husband would be “put to sleep with a slap and woken up with a slap”.
In an exchange in August 2022, a woman challenged stereotypes about Syrian husbands assaulting their wives. The account told her to “shut up” and marry a Syrian if she disliked Saudi Arabian men.
He wrote that he had lived in Syria for seven years, before writing that “a Syrian [man] gets you up with a slap and puts you to sleep with a slap”.
He added that such a husband would “make you see stars in broad daylight and wipe the floor with you”, before adding: “And this is the appropriate way to deal with your type.”
The account also invoked Islamic law to argue for severe criminal punishments. In one post, its user argued that a man accused of blackmailing women deserved execution rather than five years in prison.
He then quoted a passage from the Quran referring to offenders being “killed or crucified” or having their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides.
In one exchange, another user said a husband should take his “marital right” to sex “by force” and, if his wife objected, make her seek a divorce.
The account linked to Hammami replied that the husband had allowed his wife to become domineering and wrote: “If he had stomped on her head she would have been obedient with him.”
He also described women he disapproved of as “cheap meat devoured by anyone and everyone”.
All the posts were published during the period in which Hammami was studying remotely at BNU. A pilot who studied its aviation management degree by distance learning at around the same time said he had never met or spoken with Hammami.
The pilot, now a Boeing 777 captain, told The Telegraph: “As this was a distance learning course, I never met or contacted any of the other students.”
A former lecturer who taught aviation courses at the university during that time told The Telegraph Hammami’s name “doesn’t ring a bell at all”. He said: “When we do all this online, a lot of people don’t show up,” adding this was particularly true for working pilots who did not attend live sessions.
Lectures were recorded so students could watch them later, meaning some distance learning students could have very little direct contact with lecturers, he added. The former lecturer said the course had students from all around the world, including Europe and the Middle East.
Concerns about Hammami’s extremist views
According to the university’s website, the course covers “background operations, logistics, security and management of the aviation industry”.
Latest official Higher Education Statistics Agency figures show BNU had 1530 non-UK students enrolled in 2024-25, accounting for 8% of its 18,490-strong student population. Of these foreign students, 1240 were from outside the EU.
On Saturday, CNN reported that Hammami had been removed from a previous job at Oman’s national airline last year following concerns about his extremist views. A LinkedIn profile matching the attacker’s identity seen by CNN stated he worked at Oman Air until February 2025.
It reported that two posts published on his LinkedIn profile nine hours after the attack contained terrorist images. A video of Israeli airline jets was played before a photo montage showing a suicide bomber and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who led al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden.
It is not clear how the posts were published, or whether they had been prescheduled.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, told The Telegraph: “Our national security requires universities to be more vigilant about who is studying with them. Even those on online courses can influence others and use their British university credentials.
“Universities should therefore do more vetting as part of their admissions process.”
The alleged hijacking has been seized on by al-Qaeda supporters for propaganda purposes, although there has been no claim of responsibility.
The latest edition of Al-Bayan, a weekly publication produced by al-Qaeda supporters in the Arabian Peninsula, leads with the Flydubai incident under the headline: “Between 11 September and 30 September”.
It describes the incident as an attempted hijacking of a “Zionist-Emirati” aircraft carrying dozens of Israelis. The comparison refers to the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which nearly 3000 people were killed.
The Flydubai flight was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when Hammami allegedly attacked pilot Smit Machchhar and tried to disable the controls, causing the 737 Max to drop about 17,000ft.
Despite being badly hurt, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower his co-pilot. The plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
Hammami had reportedly come to the attention of aviation and security authorities before the attack. It has emerged that in 2024, Hammami was barred from flying by Oman over security concerns.
US media reported that he had been found with extremist material and had visited radical Islamist websites, although he continued working for Oman Air in an administrative role.
He later trained with Royal Air Maroc in 2025, but the airline said his application to work there had been rejected. He is believed to have joined Flydubai at the start of this year.
The Telegraph has approached Oman Air, Flydubai and Royal Air Maroc for comment.
‘He did not undertake any pilot training’
A BNU spokesman told The Telegraph: “As a matter of policy, the University does not comment on the records, activities or circumstances of individual current or former students beyond information already in the public domain.
“This individual completed a distance-learning course focused on aviation operations, including mergers, acquisitions, sustainability, and financial performance. He did not undertake any pilot training at Buckinghamshire New University.
“Admission to this distance-learning programme was based on standard university entry requirements.
“Separate vetting and clearance requirements apply to pilot training involving access to Security Restricted Areas (SRAs) at commercial airports. Comprehensive security, regulatory and employment checks are undertaken separately as part of pilot training, airport accreditation and applications to fly for an airline or commercial operator.”
The spokesman added: “The University has safeguarding, Prevent and student conduct policies in place and takes its responsibilities in these areas seriously. We keep these policies and procedures under regular review and work closely with relevant statutory agencies where appropriate.
“In light of the material now emerging, the University will take appropriate steps to review any relevant information relating to the individual’s period of study.”
In response to the suspension of the university’s licence to sponsor international students, a BNU spokesman said: “Since the appointment of a new vice chancellor and executive team in 2025, the university has strengthened its governance, compliance and oversight arrangements, with many improvements implemented before the UK Visas and Immigration audit took place this year.”
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