AN OXFORD MP has backed a campaign seeking to overturn a Home Office decision to block a talented Syrian musician from performing in the city.

East Oxford MP Anneliese Dodds said that her office was assisting the organisers of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival after one of their performers, Ibrahim Keivo, was denied a five day working visa.

His application was rejected because the Home Office said there was ‘no evidence the job could not be done by someone already resident in the UK.’

A petition calling for a rethink has now reached over 7,000 signatures, including Queen guitarist Brian May and Oxford author Philip Pullman.

Ms Dodds said: “It is concerning that someone who has a special skill and a legitimate reason for visiting Oxford has not been allowed to do so because of a potentially highly rigid interpretation of Home Office rules.

“I is not the only case of Home Office bureaucracy coming up with strange decisions that we are dealing with.”

Mr Keivo was due to play the oud - a middle eastern stringed instrument - and sing at the festival which takes place between September 27 and October 1.

A comment on the Oxford Mail’s website from ‘Kidlington Dave’ said: “You might as well deny Beyonce a visa because her job could be done by a karaoke singer from Birmingham.